country. >> and the people who knocked these builds down will -- >> c-span's newest book, the presidents, new historians rank the best and worst chief executives, lives of the 44 american presidents to stories with interviews of noted historians. explore the life events that shaped our leaders, challenges they faced and legacy they left behind published -- they will be on april 3rd. but you can preorder your copy at c-span/the presidents or wherever books are sold. coast guard comendant to talk about the president's 2020

budget request, outlining the strategic priorities of his military branch and warned that coast guard readiness is eroding. this hearing is just over 90 minutes. . >> good morning. the subcommittee on security will now come to order. i am pleased to welcome our distinguished panel of witnesses today to discuss with the committee, the future of the u.s. maritime industry. yes, the united states is a maritime state with over 95,000 miles of shoreline, over half of which come from my home state, the state of alaska, america's ports, waterways and river

systems support over 4.6 trillion in annual economic activity in almost 650,000 american jobs. it is a hugely important part of our economy, and very important that is the global maritime industry evolves and grows that federal regulations in orr site evolve in lock step with that growth. today we hear from admiral carl schulze, the comendant and the hon rational michael cory, chairman on the maritime commission on how to support this change in growth. each agency contribute to the safety, national security and economic growth of our nation. congress has given the coast guard a wide range of missions, very wide, as the admiral certainly knows from search and

rescue, ice breaking, maritime and environmental protections to port security, drug interdiction, international crisis response and readiness to support department of defense operations. admiral, as i mentioned to you yesterday, i happened to catch an episode of the deadliest catch, on the discovery channel a couple nights ago and it was all about our coast guard heroes who do incredible work, not just in alaska, but all over the world. increasing violence in the caribbean basin, central america and mexico overseas contingency operations demand a coast guard presence at home and increasingly over the globe. these pressures stress the limit

of the fleet. only serve to exacerbate that pressure. it was unacceptable to me and many members of the senate that the women and men of the u.s. coast guard, a branch of the u.s. military were left unpaid for the dangerous work they do with the country while numerous were being paid. we are working on legislation that would protect the coast guard should another lapse occur and admiral we want to work on your team with that. although not part of the team, playing a key role in national security. the maritime program, for example, provides a stipend for 60 u.s. missiles that are in the standby to support u.s. operations during war or national emergency. in sharing that the maritime

security is appropriately managed is critical to sustaining the hope of the maritime industry and securing the logistic supply line for global military operations. in addition to the msp, marad runs a number of other programs including the ski lift and secure fleet which includes the ready reserve fleet, just to name a few. these ships they support have the incredible infrastructure that our nation relies upon to secure both security operations and economic develop l. of course the life blood behind those programs are the american merchant mariners, that crew u.s. flag -- this group of highly trained and specialized seamen are not growing as fast as the previous generation is retiring, which poses a national security challenge to policy

makers and the industry. an independent federal agency responsible for the regulation of ocean born international transportation of the united states. the bipartisan committee of 5 commissioners, u.s. maritime law monitors the activities of ocean carriers, terminal supported on others. since i see insession, fnc has worked to ensure that neither the activities of liner shipper groups or foreign laws have unfair costs or supporters of foreign goods. this is supported to work to ensure the success of the missions of each of those important agencies and adequate resources are needed to ensure that this occurs. with that i want to thank our witnesses for being here today.

i now recognize senator marky for any statements he may have. >> thank you, chairman and thank you for this great hearing today, very timely, very important. thank you chairman wicker for your leadership on these issues. a vibrant safe maritime industry is essential for maintaining america's excellence and military might for decades to come. and here is why. america's domestic maritime industries supports $154 billion in total output and 16 billion in tax revenues every year. it supports nearly 650,000 high-wage secure jobs, ensures america maintains the capability

to mobilize the u.s. military overseas. build military vessels on american shores. it's a very simple formula, a great domestic maritime industry equates to a better military and dynamic economy. massachusetts, the bay state, has always known this, and we thank each of you who are testifying today for your roles in ensuring that we are today as strong as we have ever been. but maintaining our maritime does not come without challenges. just going to refer to what chairman sullivan just spoke of. during the government shutdown earlier this year, over 50,000 coast guard members, faithful military members dedicating their lives to protect their homeland were forced to work without pay and according to the

coast guard, only 31% of personnel had enough savings to cover one month expenses. that is not sustainable. the coast guard's ability to fulfill their maritime security, safety and stewardship and that is something that senator sullivan and i agree on and i support 100% his sentiments that we pass legislation to end sure it never happens again, the coast guard does not receive their pay when there is a government shutdown. we have to work together to ensure that that does happen this year. a key part of the mission is interdrugs on the high seas,

cocaine and other drugs pouring into our country every single year. while the coast guard has become increasingly successful in interdicting these, they did not meet its targets for drug removal last year. fishermen safety is another critical challenge we must address as fishing is still the most deadly in america. training for fisherman safety, the actual distribution has been problematic, potentially harming the programs' life saving goals. further, the maritime academies and research harbors protect federally owned training vessels, but the harbors may not have the resources necessary to maintain their docks for these maritime classrooms which are essential in preparing the next generation of mariners. so as we hear from the charge to

promote the strength of our maritime industry, i look forward to exploring opportunities to ensure members of our coast guard have the same privileges of other members of our military, enhanced drug enforcement, efforts address challenges with allocating federal resources, training and resemg and provide targeted assistance, the modernization of par boar infrastructure, federally owned vessels at maritime and harbors. >> thank you senator marky. and as he mentioned we are honored to have the chairman of the full commerce committee and the ranking member of that committee, so i want to offer both of them an opportunity to make opening statements at this hearing as well. chairman wicker. >> i will speak very briefly because we are here to hear the witnesses. thank you senator sullivan and

senator marky as the subcommittee chairman says, senator camp well and i held a hearing last month with the full committee, and then it was industry stake holders. today it is federal agencies who are supporting maritime safety, security, and competitiveness. so this is a great opportunity for us to expand on our tasks ahead, to discuss agency budget priorities, implementation of provisions encontacted in last year's coast guard and federal maritime commission reauthorizations, as well as legislative proposals. for forthcoming reorganizations of these agencies, i am struck by how much consensus there is between the opening statement of the chair and the ranking member, and i will take half a

moment to echo what they have said about the coast guard and the fact they absolutely should be treated as other uniform services are. we would hope we never have another shutdown. weft learned our lesson finally, but you never know. clearly we are in unison and feeling strongly that it's unacceptable not to treat our coast guard service members the same as we do the other services. so admiral schulze, admiral buzzbee, we look forward to hearing your testimony. >> senator camp well. >> mr. chairman, i still appreciate we have 17 different coast guard units across the state of washington, so definitely want to hear from our

witnesses. i'm going to submit my statement for the record. >> thank you. we have, as i mentioned, three distinguished witnesses for this hearing today. admiral schulze coast guard, admiral mark buzzbee administer of the maritime administration and admiral michael corey, chairman of the federal maritime commission. you will each have 5 minutes to deliver an opening statement and a longer written statement will be included in the record if you so desire. admiral schulze, we will begin with you, sir. >> well, good morning, chairman sullivan, ranking marky, wicker and ranking cameron from the full committee. it is a privilege and honor to testify here today and i will submit my written. >> without objection. >> please accept my thanks for

your unwaivering support here on the committee and subcommittee including the fiscal enacted 2019 appropriation and the hurricane funds. ready relevant coast guard, the nation and the public deserve and expect. our work is not done. if you take just one thing from my testimony this morning, i ask that you remember readiness. we, the united states coast guard must be ready, ready to push our military board. put cyber authorities to use as we adapt to 21st-century threats. without question, building a sustaining readiness is my top priority. i would say we are at a critical juncture on that

front. after almost a decade of near flatline operations to support funding for coast guard relevance is unlike the other department of defense, coast guard funding is nondefense discretionary spending so we are excluded from the effort to rebuild the military, we continue to find ourselves on the outside looking in when it comes to material up rations. in 2017 the hartman of defense received it 20% boost in operations and support funds while the coast guard received a 4% increase. military contributions are mutable. every year we expend over $1 billion on defense related act in direct support of combatants and commanders but the to force defense readiness dollars has not changed in more than 18 years. as an example of growing defense portfolio, national security cutter bert off is supporting the commander today in the south china sea

enforcing u.s. sanctions against north korea protecting and advancing u.s. interest throughout the western pacific region. we strive for relentless resilience to execute defense operations on the purchasing power has declined. if we continue to neglect our growing backlog and capital assets including infrastructure, we lose ground in the fight to defend our homeland from evolving threats challenging the nation. despite the challenges i am extremely proud of the coast guard's contributions. in 2018, as part of the departments security strategy in support of the task force, are surface and aviation assets interject 209 metric tons, 460,000 pounds of cocaine, more than all other federal agencies combined and we apprehended more than 600 suspect smugglers. disrupting transnational criminal organizations that see where they are most vulnerable helps reduce push factors responsible for driving human migration to the land border. as i speak today, the national

security cutter is patrolling the eastern pacific. they have exceeded performance applications by every metric and now we must focus on transition from outdated and costly medium endurance cutters to our planned fleet of 25 highly capable offshore patrol cutters that will in fact be the backbone of our office for maritime fleet. in the polar regions are coast guard is a sole service presence to protect our rights and projector sovereignty as access to the region expands an interest in china and russia grows, is in the national interest to be there to enhance maritime domain awareness and build governance in this economically and you strategically competitive area. that is why the coast guard is poised to release our arctic strategy from 2013, later this month. but, in the high latitudes, residency was influenced. two weeks ago our soul heavy operational icebreaker return from strip to the antarctic to replenish the sound, on the trip the crew did amazing things to keep the ship operational,

putting divers in the icy waters , patch on the shaft, fighting a fire in the incinerator space. i am proud of the group and i am concerned that we are one major casualty away from having zero heavy icebreakers in the u.s. inventory. new icebreakers cannot come fast enough. thank you for the $675 million up probe rated and the 19 appropriations for the first polar security cutter. finally, i appreciate the administration support for a number of initiatives that invest in our greatest strength, our people. walmart as they represent tangible investments towards the mission ready workforce, critical investments in our green inspections workforce into cyber operations build on capabilities that facilitate the 5.4 trillion economic activity on the nation's waterways. a dollar invested in the coast guard is a dollar well spent and with continued support the coast guard will live up to our motto. thank you, i look forward to your questions . >> thank you admiral and i think there's by partisan

agreements on your point and particularly as it relates to the icebreakers and we are focused on that. admiral busby . >> good morning. thank you for inviting me to testify today on the ma's contributions to ensuring the safety security and competitiveness of our nation. congress recognize long ago that a robust u.s. marine is critical to national defense and domestic and foreign commerce. today carnation relies on an aging fleet of u.s. government owned ships to provide surge capacity in times of conflict or crisis. a shrinking pool of u.s. flag vessels and qualified american mariners which are critical to our long-term national and economic security. specifically the average age of the government owned vessels of the ready reserve force, which

provides our military's initial capacity, is more than 44 years old. for the past year we have struggled to maintain readiness levels across that fleet. to address these needs the president's fy 2020 budget for the department of defense request $352 million to maintain the our rf. long-term they support the strategy which includes a combination of targeted service life extensions acquiring and converting used vessels and building new vessels in u.s. shipyards. along with the rrf the defense department relies on u.s. flagship student william staying u.s. forces in times of basis and to carry dod cargo in peacetime as well. however, of the approximately 50,000 large oceangoing commercial vessels operating around the world today, only 180

fly the u.s. flag. of those, only 81 vessels operate exclusively in international trade. this is one reason why the maritime security program that provides stipends to six military useful ships we would need in a long-term deployment is so critical. the president's fy 2020 budget request fully authorizes $300 million to the maritime security program. congress also wisely adopted cargo preference and the jones act to ensure access to u.s. flag vessels and american mariners. in the case of the jones act, it provides an important layer of security by ensuring that vessels navigating u.s. coastal and inland waters operate with u.s. documentation and it supports the majority of our nation's critical ship building maintenance and industrial

repair capacity. to supply the ranks of licensed american mariners we rely on the u.s. merchant academy at kings point and the six state sma's. each year, kings point graduates approximately 225 new highly skilled entry-level merchant marine officers with limited licenses and service commitments are nullified to crew large oceangoing vessels. requesting 80 1.9 million for the academy to maintain the higher standards of manor education and training. the state academies collectively graduate approximately 900 entry-level merchant marine officers annually. unlike the u.s. mma which trains on commercial carriers, the maritime academy cadet much of the sea time off sailing training ship several at the end of their service lives. we appreciate congress recent funding of our training ship

replacement program. the president's fy 20 budget west of 240 $2.3 million for the state academies includes funding for the third new training vessel and maintenance to the existing training ships. finally, port infrastructure grants will help our ports meet projected growth and freight volumes in u.s. foreign trade. the nearly $293 million provided for the grandson the fy consolidated appropriations act will help improve the safety , efficiency and reliability of coastal seaports. in addition, the $20 million and acted for small shipyard grant program in the $7 million for the american maritime highway project are essential juices any our growing maritime industry. thank you for the opportunity to highlight programs and support the safety, security and competitiveness of our nation. i appreciate the subcommittees continued support for the u.s. maritime industry and look

forward to your questions and respectfully request that my written testimony be entered into the record . >> without objection. thank you general. chairman corey . >> good morning. thank you for the opportunity to discuss the federal maritime commission's fiscal year 2020 funding request. i'm accompanied by two colleagues today, of a joined us in january following their senate confirmation and were glad to have them aboard . >> we welcome all the commissioners today. thank you. >> commissioner rebecca dai is meeting with industry stakeholders on investigations i will touch on in a moment. last year the committee on commerce was instrumental in passing the coast guard act of 2018. this act broaden the commission's authority to carry

out its mission, to protect the ship public and we are working to implement the various parts of that legislation. while congress did not assign to the commission national security will america's economic security does rely on a competitive and efficient ocean transportation system. to carry out that directive, the commission administers a focused antitrust regime tailored to the ocean liner industry we continuously monitor cooperative operational agreements filed at the commission by ocean carriers and marine terminal operators. these collaborative business agreements allow the ocean carriers or marine terminals to achieve operating efficiencies and cost savings. we closely monitor the agreement parties have business activities together with broader international ocean shipping marketplace for signs of improper collusive or anticompetitive behaviors.

we have a comprehensive and ongoing monitoring and compliance system that is constantly evolving to respond to changes in agreements in the industry in the marketplace. compared to prior years, that witnessed significant changes to the ocean transportation services market, 2018 was a more stable period for the industry. there have not been further consolidations among the top tier of ocean carriers. there remains a surplus of ocean vessel capacity in the marketplace that is highly competitive, suggesting that cargo shippers will continue to benefit from lower freight rates offered by ocean carriers. one area of uncertainty in the coming year is the international maritime organization's mandate for vessels to either burn hello soulful fuel or to install exhaust stack scrubbers to

remove the sulfur from higher sulfur bunker fuels. the mandate begins in january 2020. the estimated implementation and industrywide compliance cost to run as high as $15 billion per year. normally, ocean carriers will try to pass these added direct cost on to shippers. the commission is monitoring the issue to ensure that carrier cost recovery efforts do not violate the shipping act and harm u.s. exporters and consumers. commissioner rebecca dai is leading an investigation to examine carrier and marine terminal practices and assessing the tension and charges, these are fees cargo shippers pay when a container sits on a terminal beyond allowed free time or a container is not returned to an ocean carrier within an read period. commissioner dies in the final

phase of the effort and will present her recommendations to the commission by september. regarding our budget. the commission is an agency with a specialized mission requiring a small but highly skilled workforce. we are requesting $20 million to support 128 full-time equipment personnel in the fiscal year 2020. slightly more than $24 million of this week last goes to salaries and office rent all other expenses associated with operating the agents the for such as information tech allergy, consulting, and outsourced services, travel and supplies are funded from the remaining roughly $4 million. i am proud of the work that our dedicated staff performs every day and the contribution our agency makes towards ensuring competition and integrity for america ocean supply chain.

we are grateful for the support of the committee and the members and i look forward to working with each of you and i'm happy to answer any questions you might have about fmc and its work and i respectfully request that the written testimony be submitted to the record . >> without objection i will begin the questioning by talking a little about the issue of shipbuilding. admiral buzby, a small shipyard in addition to the big ones throughout the country like the catalyst marine or bigger alaska's shipyard in ketchikan, are a vital part of local communities but also play an important part for the overall economic and national security, can you speak about the impact of increased funding has had on the ability of the small shipyard's grant program to meet some of these needs? >> yes or thank you for your question. it's a great program and helps

many shipyards every year. last year we had $20 million to disperse and we were able to help 29 different small ships . >> if you look at trying to increase that or is that the number that you think is appropriate? >> we are grateful for whatever congress passes to us . >> that usually an easy question . >> we have a lot more applications for the grant then we are able to actually support . >> admiral shultz, i know that i appreciate the great work you're doing for the coast guard and i commend you for it and i think you are doing a fantastic job. i appreciate your visits to alaska and i think our state has benefited from those. i know that you visited this shipyard in ketchikan and saw firsthand the great work that's

being done up there. we had a provision in last year's coast guard bill that tried to address the issue that you and i have been working on for a while it's a pretty good size shipyard with a huge impact on southeast alaska, it makes financial sense for the coast guard to do a lot of its maintenance up there as opposed to sending ships all the way back down to california. there's a regulation as you know that we've been looking at that has an unintended consequence and on that shipyard we had language in the coast guard the last year that we thought addressed this. evidently, i was just recently and warmed that some of the dhs bureaucrats or whatever, didn't see it that way which is an enormous frustration of mine, you get language put in that members of congress agreed to pass and now we have the bureau

is coming back saying maybe it doesn't work. can i get a commitment from you i know i will get it because you've already committed to work with my staff and dhs, i will be calling into my office whoever's making these decisions and saying, really? we change the line you're still not good to go back to once again put this issue to rest which makes strategic sense for the coast guard cover the cost of maintenance, for your biggest district, district 17, yet somehow the bureaucracy here in dc wants to continue to drag its feet on that, can i get your commitment on that, admiral >> absolutely. i believe, you're right, we did recently get guidance that says the language did not get us there and you have my commitment to work with your staff on the language class thing consistent with the small set of rules that exist today, i will think we will have the

alaska shipyard that should be very competitive but you have my commitment to continue to work on language to accomplish that of active . >> thank you. it's just a huge frustration online but more importantly my constituents. i want to talk about icebreakers and the polar security cutter. i got reports and i would like you to please provide more details, when the polar star was out i have been there on that ship, the men and women on that ship do a great job but, holy cow, it's a really old ship i think it was commissioned in the early 70s, analog technology. was that fire on the ship that was deployed and how long did that take to put out my view is nobody wearing the uniform and the united dates military should be deploying on a ship

that is that old and that risky yet here we are common in women in the coast guard are doing a great job in that regard but, can you talk a little about that and the urgent need, and the risk to life and limb of the members of the coast guard to deploy on that ship. can you talk about that and how dangerous was the fire that we had on the ship? fire on a ship is normally a very scary thing . >> chairman, i appreciate the question and absolutely, first off the funding that comes in the 19 of creation after procurement of the first letter is an exciting time for the coast guard, we haven't had this for a decade . >> you remember they have authorization for sick . >> yes based on the high latitude, i talk about a 631 strategy six icebreaker scott tree that are what we call polar security and one other one is imminent i anticipate an award in the next 30 days,

detailed design and construction for that so it's an exciting time and we intend to build a great ship. hopefully put that in the water in the 2023 timeline. that initial ship would essentially be capacity to replace the polar star in a cycle where there's essentially hundred 30 days down reached appointment and as i mentioned in my oral statement, mcmurdo is at a critical recapitalization point and they are really relying on the star being there to break in the ocean giant and materials to take the ice station to the next level of sophistication and capacity. they had some challenges, we will invest 15 million and were trying to do for your multiyear contract and i'm confident we can fill the gap. i have to make the decision as the service cheap, can i send men and women safely to antarctica every year, so we do all the

puts and takes in the fire on any ship, i'm a sailor, that's one of the biggest concerns. for about 90 minutes the crew had self-contained breathing apparatus is, we had navy and coast guard and we put them in arctic water off the ice edge to put a patch on the shaft while shipmates in the ship crafted tools in their own machine shops timing into bilge water to fix the shaft packing. it's an increasing challenge and as i stated, the risk is that if one breaker goes down the nation is left with zero heavy breakers. we are at an exciting time off to the races soon and hopefully ships follow here to build out a united states capability capacity for the arctic regions . >> tell the men and women who did the heroic work that we thanked them and we are trying to make it so they don't have to deploy on a ship that risky

. >> thank you mister chairman, very much. >> in massachusetts, we had 2300 coast guard members who were forced to work without pay that's a lot of people. and the fellow servicemen and women were continuing to receive compensation across the planet and from my perspective it had to have an impact on morale and recruitment. i just don't think it's right again and i will come back to the subject that the coast guard is treated any different than the army, air force, marines, and i look forward to working with chairman sullivan making sure that this never happens again. my question to you, sir, is did the shut down affect morale

knowing that many of your personnel were actually overseas at the same time serving with the army and the air force in the marines the other branches ? what was the impact of having the coast guard be left behind in terms of being compensated? >> thank you for the question and thank you for the opportunity to meet with you and have a frank conversation. i would say where we are today, working backwards, were about 75 to 80% reconstituted in terms of ability. one of the dates comes up during hurricane season with high activity so you have a ready coast guard to respond and there are things that are difficult to recover.

you play catch-up but you lose time in an organization that struggling on the readiness front it's not helpful but in terms of people i would say a couple things. and proud of the men and women who stayed focused and secret service and other places and the department at large, they stood the watch ended with a sign to do for the nation our men and women took an oath and honor the oath. in terms of morale, i think he saw a couple things. it was tough but the folks did stay mission focused and leadership tried to keep their heads in the game, the new folks were working on their behalf members of the committee took the first card issued to the floor and i'm appreciative of that. we are in armed force and that's not disputable, we saw the chairman, the joint chiefs of staff way in about the coast guard issue and other service

chiefs. in terms of impact on morale, we saw a tremendous outpouring of support from the nation. there are some parts of the nation that didn't understand the coast guard, if there's any silver lining, it might be the fact that people across the country and people in your state would doing remarkable things to support the men and women in uniform from food pantries, i went i guess i went on the offensive with my messages and food pantries but the tremendous outpouring was heartwarming and not seeking cameras but had cameras put in front of them and the family stayed on message, their message that they want their spouse be paid for the job, they are proud families that signed up to serve the nation and we try to stay out of politics and on task . >> i agree with you, there shouldn't be any politics in the issue. your personnel should be fully paid the same as any other branch of the service. again, you are right there with the u.s. constitution.

the oldest ship is in boston harbor and proud of maritime history but we also understand the incredible sacrifice all of the people who have served our country and protector coastlines provided over the years. let me move to you if i could, admiral i would love to get to the issue of the maritime vessel funding issue. ts kennedy was launched in 1967 over 50 years ago. can you tell us how important it is for us to fully fund a program that ensures that you have the best facilities to train the next generation of personnel? >> we are laser focused on ensuring that we provide the best possible training facilities for all of our mid- shipment at the state academies at maritime point the placement

of kennedy, the 53-year-old kennedy and the 57-year-old empire stata new york maritime are the two top priorities and in fact, the $600 million that have been appropriated for the and smb program goes to replace the two ships straightaway in the acquisition strategy is set where, we are well along in the process of we expect to actually be awarding contract for the vessel construction manager probably within the next four or five weeks . >> that's great news and i thank you again for your service . thank you mister chairman. admiral shultz, as you know the recent flooding in nebraska has had a devastating impact on my state. on march 15 2019, the coast guard issued a waterway closure to all vessel traffic on the missouri river between saint jo and omaha. can you provide an update on the impact of flooding in the missouri river on vessel

traffic and also, do you have a sense of how long a waterway luger may be necessary along the river? >> thank you for the question. first and foremost our eighth district commander working through the sector commanders in ohio valley have a very key role with waterway stakeholders. these are generally negotiated conversations about what are the water levels in the current fan to give you an up date, i like to come back to give you a real snapshot, i don't have a current snapshot, flood levels are unprecedented and we are watching that closely looking at weeks yet before we see waters receding to normal levels. that will remain a very dynamic situation. the men and women that stay on watch in the heartland are absolutely focused on balance thing the competing interests of economics and industry with

safety and we obviously walk a fine line but want to err on the side of safety to keep commerce flowing that's two sides of the same coin for us . >> thank you. if you could get that information . >> yes ma'am expect thank you. >> can you describe for the committee, one impact the elimination of the jones act would have on mere's ability to activate a sealift if called upon by the department of defense? >> thank you for the question senator, i would say it would have a devastating effect on the nation's ability to deploy our forces and sustain them overseas. our our informers -- our armed forces, not just the vessels

but primarily the mariners that operate jones act vessels would be dead in the water that we would not be able to take this mission to war . >> thank you very much . >> chairman corey, i continue to hear from shippers that sports, particularly on the west coast are experiencing congestion that result in delays in delivering or picking up containers from terminal facilities. these delays frequently result in charges being assessed on the shippers by the ocean carriers or by the terminals that increase shipping costs. did you tell me what, if anything, the commission is doing looking at doing to address these concerns? >> yes, thank you senator. first, for congestion and cargo delivery and delays are indeed a continuing issue, congestion delays further result in the charges that you mentioned to

shippers for the containers use of ground space at the marine turner mall and then detention charges by the ocean carrier to the shipper for extra use of the container. there are multiple causes for port congestion that we see today. we called back for just a minute the fall of 2014 and 2015. an west coast port congestion. if i may, there was little to hide the fact that labor and management when the mabel of contract discussions and to be diplomatic for labor constructibility have dropped off substantially but that's not the cause of container port congestion, without trying to rankle prioritize the contributing factors, the list includes surges as shippers try to anticipate a move cargo in front of announced tariff increase deadlines.

most recently accelerated shipments in front of the annual chinese new year holiday and factory closures. larger ships are moving into the u.s. transpacific routes resulting in surges of containers arriving at the terminals in la, long beach, oakland, seattle and tacoma. next we have a continued problem with chassis availability in particular they sergeant one terminal while there may be excess containers and another with formal further disruption when an ocean carrier requires its containers to be placed on a particular branded chassis. last, growing reports and complaints that the appointment system introduced in la and long beach are simply not working as advertised.

the shipper asked me this week, can the fmc mandate as chassis pool for all chassis in la long beach, san pedro bay. the answer is no and i do not mean to suggest that congress should give us such overarching and overreaching authority . >> i'm sorry to interrupt i'm running out of time, so what are you doing about it? >> all of these issues are being sorted through and investigations that process has brought together the industry stakeholders from across the spectrum. they meet today but this is one of the multiple number of meetings and they've been identified as opportunity for development. one is standard and transparent language and to his clear, simple and accessible billing and dispute and standard evidence that is relevant to resolving the

disputes and consistent notice to the cargo interest of container availability to pick up at marine terminals. the report is due september this year and we provide you and the committee that report as soon as it's available . >> thank you mister chairman . >> thank you and the ranking member for holding this hearing. i feel like this subcommittee is in good hands two stewards a very broad maritimes date interest and i think my colleague from nebraska is bringing up a very important freight issue because i think in the ever evolving asian market and the panamax development that we cannot be at a stand when it comes to moving freight. the challenges we face in moving it is something we just

continue to fit time and energy into to get the products throughout the united states and into asian markets. so, i will focus my attention, if i could on and thank you for the coast guard by the mission that the coast guard must meet i think 11 different areas and obvious way you do it with the most minimal budget so we appreciate the service of the coast guard. i like the fact that the coast guard is modernizing it and you are on the cutting edge and would love to talk to you about what we can do for day care and housing and i know that in the pacific northwest we have creosote issues i want to make sure we pay attention to the infrastructure needs on running the coast guard as well. i will focus on two correction, arctic and icebreakers.

as we continue and i hear your commitment to upgrade the budget proposal and resources for the icebreaker fleet. i still don't know what we need to do and this is my question, do we need to do more here in the nation's capital to document the major transformation that the arctic passage is going to provide for shippers. do we have everything we need from the imo to make that route successful and in a coordinated function with what other nations are doing? there are many alaskan natives that live in washington's date i have had the chance to midi to visit with many of the alaska native corp. rations and it's amazing to me to find that they are being called on by the russians and the chinese and making major infrastructure investments in alaska.

that is good for alaska and it's good for the united states, but it does raise the question that where is the united states in making this infrastructure investment for north pole passage of cargo container, that is going to be a new opportunity for us in the united dates. do we have all of the information necessary to successfully convince our nation of the scale of this investigation and investment needed and on the imo level, do we have that level of investment and understanding with other nations about that route . >> thank you for the question. i believe we are in sort of a different paradigm today that we will roll out an update to the arctic strategy and outlook at the end of the month. there is a national strategy coming out of the white house in the near future and we are having the conversations much more so today and we have influenced the space about safety,

security type focus and we are not having that conversation, china has been in the ark took 70% of the last seven or eight years and they are up there and doing research and have other interests and are paying attention to what we do as a nation as we feel the department of defense fifth generation fighters so i think it's a competitive space. we talked about presence equals influence and we have to project sovereignty. today we are on a healy has a medium or research vessel that she was up there in the fall supporting noah of the national science foundation but that is science type work. we need a more continued presence in this starts the conversation and as i mentioned, most of that capacity goes to the antarctic

. we are going to look with very vigilant eyes on the competitive for because i feel we should be doing more and for the record, the 2010 bill read wired vessel operators to complete a safety and stability training course. i know the coast guard will begin the rulemaking process. the heartbreaking destination looks like the incident is requirement for safety may have helped in that situation, so when will we get this? >> obviously maritime safety is of primary cons that 228 year mission for the coast guard and i would like to get back to you with a firm date . >> i may have further issues .

>> thank you mister chairman . >> thank you, senator cantwell. senator blumenfeld . >> thank you mister chairman and thank you for holding the hearing. thank you all for being here, i'm pleased to welcome a connecticut lady of and a graduate to our best schools and the university of connecticut. thank you to the men and women have served with you in the coast guard. i wonder if you get up data as to efforts we have discussed in the past involving possible discrimination based on gender or race at the coast guard academy. i know that you have sought to counter an address that problem and i would like

you, for the record to up data because i think that those kinds of feelings could have an impact on national security and the coast guard is essential to our national security and i think any kind of discrimination are to be addressed, thwarted and stopped . >> senator, absolutely. first and foremost across the start, we strive to have an environment where it is supportive of people of all genders and cultural backgrounds and all experiential back rounds, we are a better united states coast guard and a more diverse coast guard, that's about inclusivity. you hear me talk about being a representative of the nation we serve. we have some challenges in new london and we had a whistleblower and dhs inspector

general's center report to secretary nielsen who forwarded that to me. and we have a little ground to close on training up dates to make sure supervisors are better trained on bullying and harassed and that will be wrapped up in the next month but we take it seriously. as superintendent it's fully committed and we have an eclipse weekend this week, some of your house colleagues and congressmen courtney looking at equity to make sure, if you are a female cadet or african- american kennett now you have the same opportunities to excel academically, athletically through other interests of the environment is embracing all and that has the enterprise, coast guard commitment and my commitment and i look forward

to changing the narrative around that. i'd like the academy to be the most inclusive, it's a tremendous institution that we have to make sure were inside the fence line but, we are 40% female and the cadet corps and that's fantastic. currently a female cadet doing great things leading the course so you have my full commitment to this situation . >> thank you expect i think that you suggested and committed that there would be some kind of town halls or public events that would give you or others in the coast guard an opportunity to voice some of the positions you've just taken . >> we are working here with the local chapters in the naacp. we've expanded the local relationship and invited them into meetings that i sent them

a clear to meet with the faculty senate individually and he met with a wide cross- section of the faculty i was up there for the annual leadership address so we are taking the issues head-on, difficult conversations, the necessary conversations we have and we will not shy away from those and we will do this when it's open transferrin -- and transparent as possible. i think you . >> i noticed in your testimony you said that that the coast guard is appropriately positioned in the department of homeland security. we've had some discussion, i don't know whether it's been raised here and i apologize, i had a couple other committee hearings about the positioning of the coast guard, most especially after the issue with payment of the coast guard that i found absolutely important. it was a disgrace, utterly shameful to deprive the

courageous and dedicated men and women of the coast guard of pay for a single day let alone 35 days. so, i take it your word that you think that the coast guard is appropriately positioned and i wonder whether there is any value to considering changing the statue so that the absence of pay never happens again and so that at least for pay purposes that the coast guard is deemed to be a branch of armed services, which as you know from your testimony it certainly is . >> senator, thank you for the question and words of support. i would say this, sir. we do find ourselves in a

different position in the federal budget. we are in the discretionary nondefense part of the budget for the department at large speaking as one of 22 components, i like to see a broadening of the conversation of security and nonsecurity conversation because i think that would roll dhs into the same conversation with dod because we are an essential entity. in terms of proper placement i do believe we haven't position and our mission from border security and others we are a law enforcement agency so it creates unique challenges and we are appropriately conditioned, the house committee i think it's 367, the chairman spoke earlier about efforts afoot in the senate and i think some safety measure, legislative safety measure,

coast guard authorization that linked us to the other arm services might be the way to make sure the fifth and smallest of the arm services is not left on this nightline obvious the none of us want another federal shutdown but were to happen and were it be a decision that the coast guard and dh at was outside of a conversation, there is a linkage there i'd like to not see this happen in the future, a. >> i appreciate that you are approaching this issue so thoughtfully and you happen to have that before you right now two members of the armed services committee and i think we can consult with you on some of your ideas in greater depth. but, i really feel there is a difference between the defense function you perform an a lot of the other law enforcement functions that are the work of

the department of homeland security which may be unrelated to defense or even security. i think that we need to resolve some of these issues, not for the sake of the coast guard, the fifth, the smallest, i don't know if your the fifth but you are one of them but, no less important than any of the other arm services. i think this is an anomalous situation that we need to address . >> senator, i said in my opening statement, there's a portion of the operating frenzy that comes out of defense and were trying to have a conversation and that number has been static since 2001 cover 18 years no cost-of- living adjustment. our contributions and defense readiness commissions swelled from the 340 number of yesteryear 18 years ago to

almost $1 billion this year. there is a righteous conversation we would welcome the opportunity to inform. >> you see the interest in a bipartisan way and i think worst for working closely with our team you have our commitment. i want to ask a bit more of a civic question there was a regulatory review task force set up by the coast guard in response to the presidential executive order 13 777 and as

you know, a large majority portion of america's fishing fleet resides in the northwest arctic area off the coast and in the fishing industry we met with the ufa, you've met with them before. not to cut corners on safety, but things they thought being on the front lines that we can work on and they are waiting a response in the coast guard as it relates to regulatory reform initiative. can i get your commitment to have a high-level number to

discuss regulatory streamlining with quests that they put forward about two years ago? >> german, yes you can . >> thank you. i look forward to following up with you on that . >> there was an earlier question by senator fischer that i want to throw out to all three of you on the importance of the jones act cannot only with regard to the economy and national security that securing our borders, protect the homeland, i just want to open up to the witnesses on your views on that occasionally, we have good debate and in congress of course there are attempts to get rid of the jones act and one thing that i like to note that a lot of people forget a lot of other countries certainly china, korea have their own version of the jones act much more stringent version. that something i like you to consider, in all three of the

witnesses, if you can give your sense from your respect of the wisdom of getting rid of that the korean shipbuilding industry is not going to say oh sure we will have this, no problem, anyone can come in and come the. the chinese don't even think about it, they run an authoritarian regime and they are about taking care of their own shipbuilding industry and maritime. so, what would be the wisdom to national security, economic security, competition globally, of getting rid of the jones act which rears its head on occasion , you are the experts in our industry and you cover different areas of it. i just like to open up to any and all of our witnesses that may be admiral buzby we will start with you . >> thank you sir, a topic i love to speak on passionately about because i believe it's so important to our country . >> this is misunderstood a lot of the times . >> it is .

>> if you could comment on the international component, it's not like other countries don't have their own version . >> 98 other countries have a former capitals law similar to the jones act . a recent study revealed that and i would think that there are so many aspect of where the jones act impacts both economic and national security. i would offer just one that is the operators of the jones act fleet that ply the waters every single day of this nation in coastal waters. they are invested in our country, they are countrymen, they know what normal looks like. they know when something doesn't look quite right. they

have no equity and no reason to want to report. our people ply those waters every day and make a living there and are members of our community. if they see something they will say some thing. that's a bona fide layer of our national security . >> anyone else? >> thank you. number one, thank you for the question. i grew up in the u.s. likely inland as the admiral knows, i had the opportunity after law school and i worked to try to put together trades in france, germany, venezuela and throughout the paraguay river system, indonesia and one of the most interesting to move on

the grand canal in china. so, i have hands onyx variance in dealing with those cabot taj rules in various countries as mentioned and they are tough. they are not receptive to foreigners coming in to their area so i agree with everything the admiral said . >> would not be a unilateral disarmament? >> 98 other countries . >> you anticipated my next point. i never have understood the simplest fundamental point that with the thousands of miles with the u.s. coastline and all the business we have here, why would we unilaterally disarm ourselves to all of these, trying to make any comment about the seamanship or anything else but i never made

sense to me . >> go ahead if you want . >> chairman, i would simply add for nearly a century the jones act is in the laws of the nation we are held to that and clearly there is implication for national security and u.s. shipbuilding capacity and expertise. i think any conversation about revisiting the jones actually connect little equity and this should be a conversation, it's been in place a long time and i think the administrator and maritime commissioner spoke to the other points . >> thank you mister chairman. only about 10% of new england fishermen have been through safety training, yet the fishing safety training program will increase the number of safety training save lives they've the coast guard and millions of dollars in search and rescue costs. these programs were authorized in 2010 and we appropriated

money in 2017 and the grants are being allocated for the first time this year, that's the first problem and the last years coast guard authorization act decreased the percent from 75% to 50% and they were notified midway through the grant process on february. these long delays and the loss of federal funding shakes the fate of the grant applicant in the program. senator sullivan and i are looking into a legislative. the needs help in implementing the solution. would you commit to working with senator sullivan and me to fixing this problem in renewing trust in the program? >> absolutely. we have a shared interest in safety on the water and fishing communities, it's a competitive place for men and women to make a living and you have my commitment on that . >> thank you . >> admiral buzby i'm working on

legislation to create a mirror program providing federal assistance to harbors for infrastructure for improvement. do you think that direct federal assessment about education and harbors could protect federal vessels and help support the education of our mariners? >> are you speaking to rating facilities? >> yes it the academies and where the training ships are? >> certainly is the owners of the vessels, especially the new national security multimission vessels that we will soon be sending to the academies, we are highly interested in making sure they have secure bureaus for the national asset. could

you talk about how this impact your force that you are protecting? >> yes. if we encounter a fisherman or recreational motors we have the ability to offer assistance. we are continually looking where we should position ourselves as an organization dealing with this national crisis year with the opioid

and fentanyl. >> do you think the coast guard should expand the practice of training of personnel in terms of the use of this technology? >> sir we are training our folks that are carrying it currently but if there is more we will work with your staff to understand. >> let's talk about drug interdiction in general coming into our introduction into our country. we know fentanyl largely comes in through mexico from china. they use our mail system to send it into our country. but we also know there are huge amounts of cocaine that come up from south america. other places that is just exacerbating our etiquette epidemic of the drug addiction in our country. can you step back and give us your overview of this drug

problem and the interdiction of strategies which you want to implement and any other resources that you might think you need? it is imperative that we have all hands on deck so to speak to fight it. >> thank you for the question. our work and thwarting illicit drugs coming into the united states is predominantly against the cocaine threat. 95% of the cocaine that departs from the where all of the coke in the world is produced bolivia columbia 95% heading north comes out of columbia. if you look at the last decade columbia was on a track to eradicate more of cocaine for many years and as president santos and his predecessor was marching columbia out of a 52 year insurgency they made decisions political decisions.

they stopped the spraying cocoa plans throughout columbia. cultivation so there has been more coke than ever before in columbia. the president and new administration is focused on that and i think they've tripled their manual rather eradication is a clear testament they are stepping in. we as the united states coast guard are partnering with the u.s. southern command. when you look at the cocaine threat 85% of the drugs in the transit zone that is the region once it leaves the source country where entrances through the ocean until it arrives here the cocaine is not coming directly to the united states. 85% in the eastern pacific ocean on the left side of the central american corridor 50% spread across the caribbean from the western caribbean to the eastern caribbean island chain. the majority of our efforts

are in the eastern pacific transit zone. i mentioned it is a statistic in the last three years we've removed one .4 billion pounds of cocaine and brought 1800 smugglers to the u.s. criminal justice system for prosecution. we have a cycle of successfully bring this drug smugglers here for prosecution they are getting sentences but there is some give and take. if they get some intelligence to complete the cycle. we have visibility of about 80- 85% of the struck movements in the eastern pacific. we have capacity. >> what do you mean by you have visibility? >> we have intelligence arrived from multi-sources, all different kind types of intelligence that tells us of those vessel movements. typically it is not commercial so it is fishing vessels and low profile vessels.

it is a multiengine smaller type both. we have visibility on those and we have resources to action about 25 or 30% of that. >> so you're saying -- >> it is a capacity conversation. >> you are seeing 95% that wines of addicting and killing americans? >> i would say we see about 85% of its from its point of departure. is not directly coming to the united states. they deftly made their first stop in mexico we interdict those drugs in large quantity most vulnerable to our interception. we remove the most from the system then all other agencies combined. that is the place to get it. there is a conversation about capacity. there are capable ships that

have been very supportive and we need to keep that effort maritime patrol aircraft congress continues to support as with additional aircraft that is long-range that we have funding in both the budgets to field small scan eagle units which is a gap filler. >> even with that what would your capacity be to be able to? >> there are some studies that the you can 50-17 major cutters or combatants to really take a bigger bite out. >> how many do you have? >> the commander and his subordinate i commit four ships on a daily basis. i am generally stopping somewhere between 6-8. we are going beyond our commitment. we are committed to this and i commit multiple airplanes,

airborne use of helicopters and the budget allows us to add a fifth airborne use helicopter so we've thrown just about everything we can at that. >> i appreciate that. in this modern era as we fully understand the drop epidemic in our country the number of people who die every single year for example i'm going to go to fentanyl but 2000 people almost 2000 died last year in massachusetts 2% of americans. >> their first time cocaine use is up in many years. cocaine laced with fentanyl is up. more people are dying from drug-related violence and overdoses that vehicle accident. it is a >> in massachusetts from cocaine and heroin and prescription drugs to fentanyl which is common for china and

as you said it comes mail order and through mexico. >> it people were dying across the country at the same rate they are dying in massachusetts it would be 100,000 people a year there will be two vietnam wars every year? that would be 1 million people over 10 years and that is through fentanyl average or. again cocaine is a feeder that gets people set up ultimately with cocaine being laced with fentanyl which from the drug dealer's perspective is a much more economical source of revenue for them because they can make so much more and it makes it so inexpensive. what you are doing is really from my perspective a security perspective the subcommittees name it goes right to, the protection of the people in

our country and we appreciate what you do on a daily basis with the coast guard. you're telling us you need more resources if this and you're saying the military itself has to dedicate more resources to this mission to be able to provide an introduction of these and ultimately from making their way up into the united states of america. i want to learn more about the resource gap that exists given the fact that you are able to see it at its beginning trip up to our country but ultimately with unfortunately limited resources to be able to deal with the actual problem in terms of how it can elude the dragnet that we set up and ultimately make it to our border. it is our top issue from a

security perspective just too many funerals and too many people dying. i apologize mr. chairman if you could just go to your your perspective in terms of whether the chinese might start to use our shipping to bring fentanyl into our country as well the prophet is just so high. >> that is a good question. what we have seen in his counter narcotics 36 business in the coast guard in it is a very adaptive atmosphere. when you squeeze in one spar one part of the chain they morph their behaviors to another. right now they are still working through the mail system. dhs is working with the mail service looking at new technologies and how you can define that. we have a flight officer west that looks at precursor chemicals and how those chemicals are shipped across the oceans and some of those

chemicals are dual use it is difficult and we try to get those boatload of chemicals and there is an international partnership that goes with this in our efforts with the cocaine task about two thirds of the activity in the eastern caribbean are partnered with some contribution. about 30-40% our partner nation and game. we have intelligence we don't have the capacity we can put information -- >> we don't have capacity that is a very important sentence for us to hear because how many more americans are going to die from that any threat from kim jong un or from i'm not going to go down the list but all of the stories on the front page talking about security risks pale in comparison to this as a threat to people on the streets of the united states and what we are putting into that fight to try to reduce so we think

thank each and everyone of you for your service. >> thank you i would just end with two additional questions if that is okay of our witnesses. admiral this is a broader question. we are working on reauthorizing this and there has been interest in maritime supply chain title in the next reauthorization bill that would enhance current authorized programs like core development program, the marine highway program and i would like your views on that. additionally there has been a lot of there hasn't been enough attention and this is more kind of commerce armed services committee this issue of the strategic ports and how important they are not just from a military side but from the perspective of meeting the needs of the military. i'm sure you are quite

familiar with the one strategic that we have in alaska is the port of anchorage which is very strategic not just for the supplies and economic vitality of the state but also our very large military footprint in alaska which is growing. we are going to have ever 105th generation fighters based in alaska in the next couple of years because of our strategic location. can you comment on that as well? i know there is ongoing litigation my view i haven't been involved we need to resolve that relatively soon because of the importance of that port to the entire states and to the countries national defense can you comment on both of those issues that fall under your purview?

>> certainly. >> thank you. we at the maritime administration and the department of view view the short side part of the equation obviously with equal interest and importance because just all of the ships sailing around carrying whatever goods they are carrying has to land those coat -- at some point. when the ships transfer to trucks to maritime highways all of that needs to function together not only in that local area in that port but how it plugs into the larger national supply-chain so as was pointed out earlier with the larger ships coming in there with the uptick in maritime traffic.

we fully expect to see our reports and they need to be modernized and more efficient and those connectors are not optimized for these large loads that are starting to come in. when a 22,000 container ship rose in and it discharges very large number of containers that quickly can clog a network or rail network so to the extent we can focus on those going down the road in programs help us help maritime ports and terminals get more efficient. i think that is an important thing to keep track of. in terms of terms of strategic ports we pay attention to those because they have a military aspect. 17 strategic ports. we have to rely on those to move our armed forces. again it gets back to the notion that there is a very distinct commercial aspect to

our nation being able to go to war that starts to flow through those ports on commercial merchant ships to the front. that whole part of the equation has to be there and working correctly as well. >> thank you and again you have a lot of members on this committee that straddle armed services and the commerce committee which i think is important for the coast guard but also for mayor had and like i also mentioned we are building the military in alaska. that port is about 90% of all of the imports and supplies for the whole state come through that port. i know there is ongoing litigation and i am hopeful we will get to it a spot where we can resolve that and build up that port in a way that secures it not just on the economic side but importantly for the armed services perspective and the military component with increasing buildup of our military forces

missile-defense f 35's. expeditionary troops in the coast guard we are building up in alaska. my final question i just want to mention and again you guys do such a great job your men and women do heroic work on the search and rescue coverage but it is a lot to cover as you know district 17 i think is bigger than the rest of the country combined, it is some enormous area coverage working together on the recapitalization program to get more alaska assets in terms of ships and aircraft, the c-130 j's are in route which is a great addition but i was informed recently major cutter hours as well as aircraft hours are down when compared with previous years with regard to coverage of the

bering sea and -- islands. i don't know if that is true do you have a view on that? is that a maintenance challenge that is predicated on that? or is there something else contributing to the reduction of hours in that really important area as it relates to coverage for safety? >> first and foremost thank you for your support no question. we strive to have coverage every ship every calendar date in the bering sea and last year we fell short on that two days. six months into this year as we start the first month of the last month of the year we lost about two weeks of major cutter coverage when the went down approaching have century in-service. we had an unexpected casualty that left it for it go

expended -- we try to bring another ship and tried to cover the gap. we are absolutely committed to that coverage sir. that has been a tradition sir. when we have a gap we also try to mitigate that with aviation assets to make sure we can respond. we have seasonal type work and what we are seeing as we are fielding these fast response cutters they have the ability where one can cross the gulf of alaska and these new ships were fielding and they will bring fast response cutters -- with your support and sir we are appreciative and we will put the 2/87 in and those have an increase in capacity. the 110 programs we will probably get 1300 hrs. sophisticated command and control, better capability and

significantly more tonnage and much more reach. i think you will see 100 additional bodies that are maintaining support was eight extra sailors. there is a lot of goodness in terms of capacity. the third and fourth of the onshore patrol cutters will be the kodiak in the alaska waterfront. those will be 360 foot ships high tonnage and tremendous ability see base with helicopters, scan eagle type capabilities. you will see a real uptick in coast guard capacity in alaska sir. >> i appreciate it and i look forward to continuing to work the increase in capacity and sir so some of that lack of coverage this year was due to -- >> -- >> monroe breakdown. >> that ship is increasingly

difficult to maintain sir due to the availability of parts but we are committed. we have the fleet we have. >> you certainly have my commitment is chairman of this committee to not only fully support but help to accelerate the recapitalization of the coast guard fleet. whatever you need let us know. i want to thank everybody again this is been a very informative hearing and very important positions all three of you gentlemen have. i think everyone is doing a good job. these are the important oversight hearings for our ability to work with the agencies to understand where priorities are, what some of our concerns are in the work together to move forward to address both. the hearing record will remain open for two weeks during this time senators may submit additional questions for the record. upon receipt the witnesses are respectfully requested to submit their answers to the

committee as soon as they can. i want to thank the witnesses again for appearing today, this hearing is now adjourned.