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Congressmen from both parties raised objections to a proposed reduction in the Coast Guard budget during hearing of the House of Representative's Subcommittee on the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Thursday.
Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, D-Md., chairman of the subcommittee, said he was "deeply concerned" that the budget request for $9.6 billion in fiscal 2011 was about $35 million less than the enacted appropriation for the Coast Guard in fiscal 2010.
 | | Cummings |
"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," Cummings said.
Rep. Frank LoBiondo, R-N.J., complained about "reckless and unconscionable slashing of funding for the Coast Guard operations and acquisitions. To say that I am troubled by what was proposed does not come close to covering it."
 | | LoBiondo |
Cummings said 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.
He noted the decrease in the number of military personnel results largely from the proposed decommissioning of assets -- five cutters, including four High Endurance Cutters, and removal of several HH-65 helicopters from service, four falcon jets. It also includes closure of two seasonal air facilities, and decommissioning five Maritime Safety and Security Teams.
“This is absolutely outrageous that we would cut our first line of domestic defense for both national defense and maritime safety,” said Rep. John L. Mica, R-Fla., the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Republican leader.
 | | Mica |
Thad Allen, the Coast Guard Commandant, who was repeatedly praised by committee members, explained the cuts by saying "we agreed to make the difficult tradeoff between balancing our current operational capacity with the need for new cutters, aircraft, boats and sensors. Given the funding levels provided, we made the conscious decision to invest in our future."
He said the budget contains $1.4 billion to acquire new assets while removing aging cutters and aircraft, and that given the established funding limits there was no other place to look for savings other than to reduce personnel and some programs.
 | | Allen |
Congress members made pitches to preserve assets in their states, ranging from cutters in Alaska to helicopters on the Great Lakes to surge security teams that spend part of their time in New York.
A report by the Government Accountability Office released Thursday said in fiscal year 2009 the Coast Guard met its performance goals for six of 11 statutory mission areas but "year-to-year performance trends are mixed.
"For example, the Coast Guard reported an improvement in reducing the maritime terrorism risk but reported a decline in the percentage of time that Coast Guard assets met designated combat readiness levels. Specifically, the Coast Guard reported that, for fiscal year 2009, agency assets met designated combat readiness levels 44 percent of the time, well below its goal of 100 percent. The Coast Guard attributes this decline in performance to reduced High Endurance Cutter readiness and personnel and training shortfalls for port security unit reserve forces," the GAO noted. — Chris Dupin
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