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House Lawmakers Challenge OMB’s Plan to Slash $1.3B From Coast Guard Budget

March 15, 2017 — A bipartisan group of 58 legislators has sent a letter to the House Appropriations Committee’s homeland security subpanel to oppose the White House’s plan to implement a $1.3 billion reduction in the U.S. Coast Guard’s budget, Defense News reported Monday.

Joe Gould writes the Office of Management and Budget proposed to eliminate the Coast Guard’s Maritime Security Response Team for counterterrorism efforts and cancel funding support for the service branch’s ninth National Security Cutter ship.

The lawmakers led by Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-California), chairman of the House Coast Guard and Maritime subcommittee, said in the letter that OMB’s proposed cut to the Coast Guard’s budget “should be dismissed” since it contradicts President Donald Trump’s aim to rebuild the military.

Read the full story at Executive Gov

Read the full letter here

Senators to Trump Administration: Don’t cut Coast Guard budget

March 15, 2017 — Mexico isn’t going to pay for that wall and neither will the Coast Guard, if a bipartisan group of U.S. senators have their way.

According to reports, the FY 2018 Presidential Budget Request could seek an almost 12 percent cut in the service’s budget, apparently in an effort to help pay for increased expenditures elsewhere in the Department of Homeland Security.

A letter sent by Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Gary Peters (D-MI), Patty Murray (D-WA), Roger Wicker (R-MS) and eighteen other senators urges Office of Management and Budget Administrator Mick Mulvaney not to make what could be a $1.3 billion dollar cut to the Coast Guard budget.

The senators note that President Trump has committed to stopping the flow of illegal drugs into the country, protecting its borders, investing in national security, and improving support to armed service members and their families. The Coast Guard plays an outsized role in all these areas and  the senators say thatits budget should be increased rather than gutted.

“We are concerned that the Coast Guard would not be able to maintain maritime presence, respond to individual and national emergencies, and protect our nation’s economic and environmental interests. The proposed reduction… would directly contradict the priorities articulated by the Trump Administration,” wrote the Senators. “We urge you to restore the $1.3 billion dollar cut to the Coast Guard budget, which we firmly believe would result in catastrophic negative impacts to the Coast Guard and its critical role in protecting our homeland, our economy and our environment.”

Read the full story at Marine Log

Read the full letter here