Judiciary panel moves Coast Guard reauthorization bill
Measure would allow more money for the troubled Deepwater modernization project, but would set stricter management requirements.
The House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday approved a fiscal 2008 authorization bill for the Coast Guard after adding language to bolster its ability to combat maritime smugglers of illegal immigrants.
The bill (H.R. 2830), which cleared the committee on a voice vote, would also increase funding authorized for the Coast Guard's controversial $24 billion Deepwater program to modernize its fleet, and would ratchet up security at ports and liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities.
The legislation, which cleared the House Homeland Security and Transportation and Infrastructure committees earlier this year, calls for adding $229 million to restore the Deepwater acquisition funding to its fiscal 2007 level of $1.2 billion. But the measure would tighten up the much-maligned management of the program by requiring a civilian to fill the new position of chief acquisition officer and barring Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman from continuing to act as lead contractors for the program.
In addition, the bill calls for the Homeland Security Department to track and assess the cost growth of the first two of the Coast Guard's new national security cutters, and would require that their design be certified by the American Bureau of Shipping. The measure also requires the Coast Guard to tap the Navy's shipbuilding and communications expertise in designing Deepwater vessels.
On an earlier voice vote, the committee, whose jurisdiction over the Coast Guard is limited to its law enforcement powers, approved an amendment offered by House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., to impose prison terms of up to 10 years on sea-going smugglers who flee Coast Guard patrol boats, up to 10 years in cases where chases result in injuries to the alien passengers, and life in jail in cases of death. Current prison terms for this kind of smuggling average around five years.
"Maritime alien smuggling has become big business because the smugglers have little to lose," said Rep. Howard Coble, R-N.C. Conyers said the bill was especially aimed at the smugglers who ram their boats up on the nearest beach with no regard for the safety of their immigrant passengers to escape arrest.
Similar language passed the House in a unanimous vote earlier this year.
The security provisions of the bill would authorize the Coast Guard to create a Maritime Security Response team on the Pacific Coast to complement the one already assigned to the East Coast. The bill would also authorize pilot programs to test radiological and nuclear detection devices on Coast Guard ships.
In other security initiatives, the bill calls for the Homeland Security Department to conduct comprehensive security reviews before approving new LNG facilities, and would require the Coast Guard to do "comparative risk assessments" for proposed LNG shoreline facilities.
The legislation would also require DHS to submit a progress report to Congress on the effort to establish a transportation worker identification card program, and would direct the Government Accountability Office to do a study of state programs that duplicate background checks for the ID cards.
In addition, the bill would require cruise ships to file prompt reports on missing passengers or violent incidents aboard vessels, and would authorize the DHS to develop a strategic plan for assisting foreign ports that do not have adequate security systems.