OMB drops plan to cut Coast Guard budget

MARCH 17, 2017 — After attracting criticism from a bipartisan group of 25 U.S. senators (see earlier story), a Trump Administration draft proposal that would have made big cuts in Coast Guard spending looks to have died,

According to widely circulated reports, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) was looking for an almost 12 percent cut in the service’s budget, apparently in an effort to help pay for increased expenditures elsewhere in the Department of Homeland Security.

As published, however, the President’s budget request now “sustains current funding levels for the U.S. Coast Guard, which allows for the continuation of day-to-day operations and investments in the Acquisition, Construction, & Improvements account.”