Growing concern for Coast Guard funding

The Obama administration is increasingly facing on the Coast Guard 2011 fiscal year budget proposal criticism following the scornful hearing with the House Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation this past Thursday.

The Coast Guard unlike the Department of Defense is facing a shrinking budget while trying to maintain some of the oldest ships and aircraft in the U.S. Fleet.  Many argue that the Defense Department has been given far too much leeway to spend money on large cumbersome projects while the Coast Guard is forced to cut spending due to its placement in the Department of Homeland Security which receives far less support on budgetary issues than the larger Department of Defense.

Since the Coast Guard is also a regulatory agency for the maritime industry, mariners and those connected to the maritime industry have reason for concern over the proposed budget cuts.  Constrained resources could effect everything from regulatory oversight, marine safety prevention activities, and search and rescue response.  Many in the industry are watching this topic very closely.

The New York Times just published an Op-Ed piece titled “Putting the Coast Guard Out to Sea.”

DESPITE the pressing need to cut government spending, under President Obama’s spending proposal all the nation’s military services are set to see their budgets increase — all, that is, except the Coast Guard, the nation’s chronically overburdened maritime force, responsible for everything from global search and rescue to port security.

Under the president’s proposal, the Coast Guard’s budget will decline by 3 percent, to $10.1 billion, smaller than many medium-sized agencies under the other services. It’s a puzzling decision, considering the increasingly critical role the Coast Guard plays in protecting the national security interests of the United States — and considering that many much less vital military programs have been spared.

Beyond combating drug smuggling and international piracy, the 41,000-member Coast Guard is our nation’s first line of defense against nuclear terrorism. If someone wanted to detonate a nuclear bomb in this country, would hebe more likely to launch it on a missile with a return address, or would he try to smuggle it in a container through one of our ports? The latter, obviously — and the Coast Guard’s Port Security Units would play a pivotal role in stopping him.

The Coast Guard is also our nation’s first responder to natural disasters and maritime emergencies, both at home and abroad. The service played a vital role in the American assistance effort after the 2004 Asian tsunami; at home, it rescued nearly 25,000 people and medically evacuated close to 10,000 after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast. Coast Guard cutters were also the first American ships to arrive after the devastating earthquake in Haiti last month. It helped evacuate the first Americans and has continued to provide crucial search and rescue and medical assistance there.

All this activity is already straining the Coast Guard budget. Most of the 19 cutters that were sent to Haiti eventually needed help themselves — thanks in large part to their age, 12 of them suffered severe problems at sea, and three required emergency dry-dock repairs. That’s not surprising, since the average “high endurance” cutter is 41 years old, compared to 14 years for the average Navy ship. The fleet’s deteriorating condition, in the words of the Coast Guard commandant,Adm. Thad Allen, is “putting our crews at risk, jeopardizing the ability to do our job.”

True, the deficit means painful cuts have to be made somewhere. But consider some of the programs that haven’t been cut, like the missile defense program. Although it has yet to be successfully tested under realistic conditions, it will receive more funds in the proposed 2011 defense budget than the entire Coast Guard.

Why has the Obama administration taken to slashing the budget of such a critical military service, while allowing the budgets of other defense programs and of the four other services to increase significantly? Because unlike the programs and services grouped under the Department of Defense, the Coast Guard is part of the Department of Homeland Security, and therefore must compete for scarce dollars with its 22 other agencies, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Transportation Security Administration. The Pentagon, in contrast, receives virtually unconstrained defense funding, which has doubled in real terms in the last 10 years.

Read more….

Here is another article from the Marine Log

Cummings “deeply, deeply” concerned” by Coast Guard budget cuts

Republican members of House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee were critical of cuts in the FY 2011 Coast Guard budget request just as soon as it appeared.

Now it seems Democrats also have misgivings.

“There is no way to sugar coat what the impact of these proposed cuts would be: they will reduce the capacity of the Coast Guard to carry out its missions,” declared Congressman Elijah E. Cummings, Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation at a hearing on the FY 2011 budget requests for the Coast Guard, the Maritime Administration, and the Federal Maritime Commission.

Chairman Cummings noted in an opening statement that the Administration is requesting approximately $9.6 billion in FY 2011 for the Coast Guard — approximately $35 million below the FY 2010 enacted appropriation.

“To achieve the budget reductions proposed in the Coast Guard’s fiscal year 2011 budget, while generally preserving the budget for asset recapitalizations, the budget request proposes a number of cuts in the Coast Guard’s operations,” said Chairman Cummngs. “Specifically, the budget proposes to reduce the size of the Coast Guard’s military workforce by 1,112 positions while increasing the number of civilian personnel by 339 positions, yielding a net reduction of 773 positions.”

“The decrease in the number of military personnel results largely from the proposed decommissioning of assets,” he continued. “The budget proposes decommissioning five cutters, including four High Endurance Cutters. These decommissionings will result in the loss of approximately 5,000 cutter mission hours in fiscal year 2011. The budget also proposes to remove several HH-65 helicopters from service, close two seasonal air facilities, retire four Falcon jets, and decommission five Maritime Safety and Security Teams.”

He said the impact of the cuts is reflected in the Coast Guard’s performance measure estimates for FY 2011. For example, the Coast Guard has lowered from 18.5 percent in FY 2010 to 15.5 percent in FY 2011 the projected target removal rate for cocaine from non-commercial vessels in maritime transit.

“In plain English,” said the Chairman, “according to the Coast Guard’s own performance measures, reduced patrol hours will likely mean that fewer drugs will be interdicted at sea. Other performance indicators have also been lowered.”

“I am deeply, deeply concerned by the proposed reductions in the Coast Guard’s budget,” declared the Chairman.

“I firmly believe that the Coast Guard’s budget needs to be equal to our nation’s requirements for the Coast Guard’s services – and this budget simply does not meet that standard,” he said.

Turning to the Maritime Administration’s FY 2011 budget request, Chairman Cummings noted that “despite what

appears to be a significant demand for assistance among small shipyards, there is no request for funds for the Assistance to Small Shipyards Program.”

The Chairman also noted that while Marad is currently reviewing applications for Title XI loan guarantees for projects that would cover approximately $2.6 billion in loans for a variety of projects at shipyards on all coasts, the FY 2011 budget request for Title XI is only $3.7 million — the amount of funding needed to administer the existing loan portfolio.”