Chairwoman Roybal-Allard Statement at Hearing on Coast Guard's FY 2020 Budget Request

Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-40), Chair of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, delivered the following remarks at the Subcommittee's hearing on the fiscal year 2020 budget request for the United States Coast Guard:

Admiral Schultz, I want to welcome you to your first hearing before this subcommittee.  We are pleased to have you testifying before us today.

I would also like to thank you, and the thousands of “Coasties” you have the privilege of leading, for your service to the Coast Guard and our country.  Nearly a year into your tenure as commandant, we look forward today, to a good discussion of your observations and vision for the future.

In the fiscal year 2019 bill, I was pleased we were able to provide the Coast Guard with over $10 billion in discretionary funding.  We funded important investments to recapitalize the Coast Guard’s air and marine assets, including for the Coast Guard’s first Polar Security Cutter to replace the current aging heavy ice breaker.

I want to acknowledge that the government shutdown was difficult for the Coast Guard family – the Coast Guard was the only armed service that worked without pay for those five weeks.  But I was pleased that in our enacted bill, we were able to support those men and women with resources for more staff, increased pay, and increased subsidies for child care.

Unfortunately, the fiscal year 2020 request for the Coast Guard is less promising.  It proposes an overall reduction to the Coast Guard budget of over $700 million, including a reduction of more than $1 billion to the procurement account.

We look forward to hearing from you today about your fiscal year 2020 request, and whether it would provide the resources you need to support your important and varied missions.

I personally want to add that I look forward to seeing some of the assets and capabilities of the Coast Guard in my home state next month, when a number of my colleagues and I come to observe DHS operations in San Diego and Long Beach.

Thank you again for joining us, and I look forward to our discussion.  I would now like to turn to the distinguished gentleman from Tennessee, Ranking Member Fleischmann, for his opening remarks.