The chairman of the House subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security predicted on Tuesday that President Donald Trump’s proposed Coast Guard budget would find little support in Congress.
"This budget proposal is dead on arrival since Congress will not entertain these cuts," Rep. Lou Correa, (D-CA), said during a hearing on funding proposals for the Coast Guard and the Transportation Security Administration.
The president’s fiscal year 2020 budget proposes $11.3 billion for the Coast Guard, which falls under the Department of Homeland Security. That figure includes $9.3 billion in discretionary funding, which Congress must appropriate. That’s down from the $10.4 billion in discretionary funding appropriated last fiscal year and even less than what was allocated in 2018.
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“For years we have asked the Coast Guard to do more with less and though they have always risen to the challenge, no organization can be sustained indefinitely by being insufficiently funded,” Correa said.
In his testimony before the subcommittee, Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Karl Schultz stressed that the effects of a decade’s worth of flat budgets are beginning to be felt.
"Building and maintaining readiness is my number one priority," he said. "We're at a critical juncture, a tipping point of sorts, after almost a decade of near flatlined operations and support."
Correa said the president’s budget proposal for the Department of Homeland Security would lead to a reduction in the operational abilities of the Coast Guard and threatens funding for a proposed new polar heavy icebreaker.
"The administration proposes underfunding the Coast Guard at a time when national disasters, cyber attacks, and drug trafficking are making its efforts more difficult every day," agreed Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS).
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The administration’s proposal also calls for the elimination of 815 full-time TSA personnel and the cutting of 50 canine dog teams, Correa added.
“This is no way to fund a national security agency,” he said.
Schultz said unlike the other branches of the armed forces which fall under the Department of Defense, the Coast Guard has not seen an uptick in funding in recent years.
"Coast Guard readiness is eroding," he warned.
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