The New Coast Guard Funding Bill Is Really Good For The USCG

The Don Young Coast Guard Authorization Act does a great job of setting the Coast Guard up for success in the years ahead. As the Senate gears up to pass the massive $847 billion defense authorization bill, the Coast Guard—a tiny piece of the overall defense bill—will emerge from the annual budget process far stronger than it had hoped when the President’s FY2023 budget proposal first went to Congress. The defense bill deserves quick passage, and the Coast Guard funding merits prompt approval from Congressional appropriators.

It Funds Much-Needed Assets:

For a start, the Coast Guard gets more ships than they asked for in the President’s proposed budget. Again, if congressional appropriators play ball, and release $300 million for a 12^th National Security Cutter and $420 million for six more Fast Response Cutters, two cutter production lines can stay open. And, if that wasn’t enough, Congress tossed in $172 million for a dozen new heavy weather boats for the Pacific Northwest along with $350 million for a new Great Lakes icebreaker (an asset which I think is somewhat excessive, but, heck why not start gathering up funding for it now?).

All of these new vessels are worthy projects, offering, in particular, a welcome back-up to the busy National Security Cutter and Fast Response Cutter fleets. An extra National Security Cutter reduces the load on other platforms, and adds in an extra hull when, in the event of a fire or other casualty, one of the Coast Guard’s big cutters is sidelined.

On shore, the Coast Guard got a much needed billion-dollar boost for oft-ignored and long-underfunded Coast Guard basing infrastructure, including $120 million for Coast Guard Training Center Cape May and $67.5 million for child development centers. These things are needed if the Coast Guard wants to keep people or grow the force.

In addition to the billion in shoreside funding, Baltimore’s strong-performing Coast Guard Yard is set to receive an eye-popping $636 million, money that will help to position the yard for new ships over the next few decades.

If everything works out, the Coast Guard Yard will get $127 million right away, and then it’ll have a $273 million fund to draw from for improvements over the next few years. In addition, the yard can procure a $236 million dollar floating dry dock—sized for the Coast Guard’s larger cutters, but also potentially something that could be certified for nuclear work if the Navy needed some free dry dock space in a pinch.

Goodies Are Good, But The Real Cash Is In Congressional Reports

All of that is welcome. But even better, a savvy Congress has ordered the Coast Guard to produce a series of reports explaining exactly what it might need in the coming years—helping the Coast Guard get the money it needs given the Coast Guard’s selfless-but-helpless approach to the rough-and-tumble world of annual budgeting at the Department of Homeland Security.

If Congress has its way, the Coast Guard Commandant must compile a list of shoreside infrastructure projects being considered within the next seven years, offering Congress a glimpse at the state of planning for each capital improvement project as well as a detailed cost estimate. That’s great. It’s a heck of an opportunity. Not only does this force the Coast Guard to approach their shoreside infrastructure in a logical fashion, it jumpstarts future planning and alternatives development—things that really helped the Coast Guard Yard as it went from being ignored in 2021, during the $25 billion government-wide push to recapitalize taxpayer-owned shipyards, to being one of the first with a realistic path forward. It’s never wrong to let Congress know what you need.

Among a number of worthy reports, a few really stand out.

Echoing concerns expressed in my earlier Forbes.com reporting, Congress wants a full report on the operational availability of Coast Guard aircraft, and a strategy for Coast Guard aviation. This, as the Coast Guard struggles to update an aging rotary wing fleet and neck down to a single helicopter, is a big deal—and, as it looks like the Army’s Future Vertical lift effort went towards a platform that is going to struggle in filling the USCG’s search and rescue mission, the faster the Coast Guard starts exploring options, the better.

Congress also wants the Coast Guard to report on resourcing needs to achieve “optimum” operations in the Western Pacific, in areas west of the international date line, as well as a discussion on the feasibility of basing U.S. cutters forward, in a foreign country. The idea of basing cutters in American Samoa or some U.S. Protectorate is long overdue.

As the prospect of increased Polar activity grows, Congress wants more insight on the Coast Guard icebreaking strategy. Congress wants an icebreaker fleet mix study, looking to see if the Nation would be better served by a single platform fleet of Polar Security Cutters rather than the currently planned fleet of large and medium-sized icebreakers.

The authorizers propose a brace of reports aimed at getting the Coast Guard to better understand and incorporate operational and life cycle costs of new acquisitions are welcome, as is a proposal to wire up a new-build cutter to assess the viability of condition-based maintenance.

Cyberspace and AI get their due as well, with Congress wanting the Coast Guard to produce a public list of tools and resources to help maritime operators identify, detect, and protect against cyber incidents, as well as conduct a study on cyber threats to the U.S. maritime transport system. Other forward-looking members of Congress wants the Coast Guard to begin coordinating data management and AI activities.

In all, this is a very good, future-focused set of funding proposals. The Coast Guard may not relish adjusting their current “Programs of Record,” and may fear some of the reports and funding proposals, but if Congressional appropriators move forward with this package, the Coast Guard will be in a far better place than it expected to be earlier this year.