Schultz: Coast Guard Readiness at a ‘Tipping Point’
By: John Grady
April 9, 2019 4:53 PM
Unlike the other military services, the Coast Guard has not received budgetary relief to eliminate its maintenance backlog and keep cutters on patrol and helicopters flying or to address aging infrastructure problems pier-side, the commandant of the Coast Guard told a House panel on Tuesday.
While there has been money earmarked for the new polar security cutter and 25 offshore patrol cutters, the Coast Guard needs to emphasize readiness in the $11.3-billion request for the coming fiscal year, Adm. Karl Schultz said before the House Homeland Security transportation and maritime security subcommittee.
“We’re at a tipping point of sorts,†Schultz added, because the Coast Guard not only faces out-of-date maintenance facilities that hurt operational readiness but is also “categorized as non-defense discretionary spending†and therefore has a harder time securing additional funding to address those readiness barriers.
https://news.usni.org/2019/04/09/schultz-coast-guard-readiness-at-a-tipping-point
