Maintain Current Level of Funding for the United States Coast Guard

Camden County recently received some startling news. As a result of the Obama Administration’s decision to reduce the fiscal year 2011 budget, the Coast Guard will have to make drastic cuts.

There are Coast Guards all over the world. Yet our fleet is in the bottom 10 percent when it comes to the age of our fleet. With cutters as much as 50 years old, the Coast Guard has begun a robust program to recapitalize their fleet. (Click on "By The Numbers" above for the full story)

Yet one proposal will be to reduce the acquisition, construction and improvements account (AC&I), which will delay this critical recapitalization program. While there is documented evidence that the 50-year-old, 378-foot cutter fleet is in need of replacement, and scheduled to go out of commission in 2014, this proposal has them taken out service three years early without adequate replacement.

With the Coast Guard’s critical mission of safety and search and rescue, the program to support maritime domain awareness — knowing where ships are at sea in real time — is now being jeopardized.

The Coast Guard has seen its missions dramatically increase since the tragedies of Sept. 11, 2001. The previous administration and the Congress, in recognition of this fact, have steadily increased the end strength (number of personnel) for the past few years.

This proposed budget will decrease our active-duty Coast Guardsmen by 1,112 people. Cutting jobs is the easy way to save money, but it makes no sense in this case, because at the same time the federal government is considering appropriating unthinkable amounts of tax dollars in jobs bills. Compared to the jobs bill this is a very small investment in not only jobs but jobs for defense. Jobs where our military are on call 24/7. This jobs bill investment reaps enormous benefits for our country.

While no less startling but more significant to Camden County, another proposed cut will be decommissioning the Maritime Safety and Security Team (MSST) in St. Marys. Decommissioning our local unit would result in a loss of over $8 million annually to our community. In addition to our unit the proposal is to also close the MSST units in New York, New Orleans, San Francisco and in Anchorage.

These critical units were established after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11. The current threat level is high, if not higher, than when the teams were commissioned. Now is the wrong time to be reducing any anti-terror units. President Obama has proposed a freeze in federal spending, with the exception of the Department of Defense (DOD) due to the nation being engaged in two wars. While the Coast Guard is not a part of DOD and is under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), they are one of the five arms of the military and with the homeland security challenges that we face their mission to protect our ports and our coastline has never been more essential.

So what do we as a community do about this? Everything we can. With The Camden Partnership taking the lead we have partnered with all local governments, the Chamber of Commerce, the Joint Development Authority and the Navy League to begin a rigorous campaign to have Congress restore the Coast Guard’s budget.

On Friday, March 12th we mailed out 150 packages. These packages were sent to President Obama, the Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and members of Congress in the House and Senate who have oversight of the Coast Guard. Copies were also sent to the Coast Guard itself as well as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

These packages included a cover letter, position papers on maintaining the current level of funding for the U.S. Coast Guard and  retaining the MSST (91108), a letter from Gov. Sonny Perdue, and a joint resolution from the cities of Kingsland, St. Marys and Woodbine, the Camden County Board of Commissioners and the Camden County Board of Education. It also included a letter from the City of St. Marys, a joint letter from the JDA and the Chamber pointing out the fact that in comparison to the East Coast (MSST) missions not slated for decommissioning; the economic impact is 9,000 percent greater than Boston and 8,000 percent greater than Miami (the location of the MSST units that would remain on the East Coast). The economic impact will be far more detrimental to our community than any other MSST based community. Also included is a letter from the Camden-Kings Bay Council of the Navy League pointing out the quality of life attributes of Camden County and the benefits our military friendly community offers.

We’ve made some progress. Senators Isakson and Chambliss and Congressman Kingston have jointly sent a letter to Secretary Napolitano and ADM Thad Allen in strong opposition to the budget cuts to MSST. Senators Isakson and Chambliss also sent a letter; along with Senators Joe Lieberman, Susan Collins, George LeMieux and Scott Brown to the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Committee on Appropriations requesting that the $200 million set aside to cover security expenses of the terrorist trials in NY be reallocated within the DHS budget to prevent reductions in the Coast Guard’s budget.

We’ve been able to get our letter into the hands of Secretary Napolitano. We’ve had valuable advice from D.C. firms who understand our need and our pocketbook. We are asking that the current level of services of the Coast Guard be maintained in the 2011 budget, adjusted for inflation, and that we retain all 12 MSSTs.

We are asking for a true augmentation of funds and that no reapportionment of the already scarce funds is made.

In the true nature of this community — this community who never complained when the security requirements of our nation determined the need to transfer two of our submarines to the west coast — we understand national security.  We also understand budget cuts and when it comes to the need for preserving national security we will fight.

The Camden Partnership will be in D.C. several times over the next few months. Our friends are helping us meet with key legislators. While the budget vote in Congress may not come until late summer, we can’t take any chances.

Please consider writing your friends now in other states to help us in this effort, asking them to contact their representatives in congress. It won’t hurt for our representatives to hear from you as well, to let them know we appreciate their efforts to win this fight.

We respectfully request that the country does not lose this battle to save our Coast Guard.

Sheila McNeill
President
The Camden Partnership
Camden County, Georgia

Home to Many of our Guardians

Past National President
Navy League of the United States