Amid reports that the White House budget office is proposing a nearly 12 percent cut to the Coast Guard’s budget in FY ’18, 23 senators sent a letter on Wednesday to Office of Management and Budget Director John “Mick” Mulvaney warning that the proposed spending cuts will curtail the service’s maritime operations and ability to respond to emergencies.
“Although the Coast Guard has continued to demonstrate the ability to accomplish more with less, the service’s operational tempo is unsustainable as its infrastructure continues to age and becomes technologically obsolete,” the senators write. The letter points out that the Coast Guard’s acquisition budget shrank 40 percent between 2010 and 2015 before Congress restored funding in 2016, adding, “but we have a long way to go.”
Three Republicans joined 20 Democrats and Independents in signing the letter. The Republicans are Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan of Alaska, and Roger Wicker (Miss.).
The Trump administration is looking at the Coast Guard, Transportation Security Administration, and Federal Emergency Management Agency, to be bill payers for enhanced border security and immigration enforcements, two key pledges made by President Donald Trump during his election campaign.
Media reports have put the proposed cut to next year’s Coast Guard budget at $1.3 billion.
The letter says the proposed reduction “would directly contradict the priorities articulated by the Trump Administration, in particular the President’s priorities regarding enhanced maritime security needs and desire to invest in our nation’s military.” It adds the Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly testified at his confirmation hearing that he supports the ongoing recapitalization of the Coast Guard and warns that this modernization effort can’t be carried out with the proposed cuts.
The proposed cuts would limit counter drug operations, “significantly reduce” port security and anti-terrorism operations, and delay efforts to acquire new heavy polar icebreakers, the senators warn.