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Lawmakers blast Coast Guard budget proposal

Lawmakers from both parties had choice words for the Obama administration’s fiscal 2011 budget request for the Coast Guard at a House subcommittee hearing Thursday.

Rep. Frank LoBiondo, R-N.J., called the budget “reckless and unconscionable.”

“To say that I am troubled by what was proposed doesn’t come close to covering it,” he said. “It’s a recipe for disaster.”

Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., chairman of the subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation, said that no one on the panel supported the budget.

“I think you will have unanimous support from this committee to restore these cuts,” Cummings said. “We will proceed very methodically, but very effectively and very efficiently.”

The Coast Guard has requested $10.08 billion, down 3.3 percent from the $10.42 billion appropriated for fiscal 2010. The budget reflects a 2.6 percent cut in active-duty end strength, or 1,112 active-duty billets.

Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad Allen and Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard Charles “Skip” Bowen testified at the subcommittee hearing. The hearing also covered the budgets for the Maritime Administration and the Federal Maritime Commission.

LoBiondo and Cummings said the reduction in force — which will be mitigated by the hiring of 339 civilians — is particularly painful because the panel had worked so hard to increase billets for the Coast Guard. The bulk of those billets will be eliminated with the decommissioning of the five cutters, the five maritime safety and security teams, and nine aircraft — all proposed to reduce spending.

LoBiondo, Rep. Michael McMahon, D-N.Y., and other lawmakers expressed concern about losing a maritime safety and security team from New York City. The closest team would be in Boston.

“These reductions in capability can only be seen as undermining our port security,” LoBiondo said.

Allen said that the Coast Guard chose to eliminate a team from New York City because the Coast Guard has its largest station there and could best make up for the loss there. He said that the maritime safety and security team acts more as prevention and deterrence by searching vessels and patrolling. Sometimes the team in New York is deployed outside the city and isn’t available regardless of what is proposed in the budget.

Allen said that he was focused on recapitalizing the fleet and had to make “hard choices” about what could be reduced. The budget includes nearly $1 billion in acquisitions on ships and aircraft.

“There is no other place to look but force structure,” he said.

Cummings asked Allen whether the Coast Guard had determined how many people the service needs. Allen said that a working group was still analyzing staffing models to determine where there are gaps.

Florida Rep. John Mica, the ranking Republican member of the full Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, said there was no reason to be cutting back on Coast Guardsmen at all.

“This is absolutely outrageous that we would cut our first line of domestic defense and maritime safety and security at this time,” he said.

Rep. Vernon Ehlers, R-Mich., spoke about the proposed closure of air facilities in Muskegon, Mich., and Waukegan, Ill. He said the loss of helicopters patrolling the Great Lakes would reduce search-and-rescue missions and “is just not sound judgment if we look at lives saved.”