Coast Guard pleads to retain funds for upgrading fleet

The Coast Guard's top brass on Tuesday attempted to convince Congress not to sink a multibillion-dollar program to upgrade its fleet.

Lawmakers on the Senate Commerce Fisheries and Coast Guard Subcommittee grilled Adm. Thomas Collins, the Coast Guard's commandant, about the agency's revised plan for the 20-year initiative known as Deepwater.

The recently updated initiative calls for a decrease in the number of cutters and aircraft because of enhanced communication, surveillance and detection devices that would lessen the need for large assets.

Collins repeatedly defended the revision, saying the agency could add more helicopters and ships down the road but has decided to concentrate funding on technological capabilities. Vice Adm. Thad Allen also testified about the program at the same time before a House Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee. Collins is slated to testify before the House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee on Wednesday.

"We have to keep the ship from sinking -- in terms of damage control," Collins said of the program. He said the agency is "very happy" with current upgrades, but future improvements depend on "cash flow and stability." The total price tag is estimated at $19 billion to $24 billion over 20 to 25 years.

Despite Collins' best efforts, subcommittee Chairwoman Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, remained adamantly unconvinced throughout the hearing.

"[The new plan] doesn't reflect reality," she said, arguing that the agency needs new and upgraded cutters and helicopters to meet its homeland security responsibilities. Currently, the U. S. Coast Guard's fleet ranks 39th out of 41 countries with comparable agencies.

After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Congress folded the Coast Guard into the Homeland Security Department. Last year, House and Senate appropriators required the agency to rework the initial 1997 Deepwater plan to meet security missions. They requested the new numbers before this year's budget cycle began, but the Coast Guard and the White House Office of Management and Budget did not provide them.

The missed deadline prompted Rep. Harold (Hal) Rogers, R-Ky., chairman of the House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, to slash $466 million from the fiscal 2006 budget request for Deepwater. Senate appropriators cut $60 million.

Collins said convincing lawmakers to match the request for $966 million next year is his "next biggest challenge." When asked about his strategy after the hearing, the commandant said he has "engaged, engaged, engaged" the appropriators.

"I think we're on the right track," he said cautiously.

It remained an uphill battle for Collins, as Snowe criticized the agency for not reviewing ways to accelerate the pace of Deepwater. A Coast Guard-commissioned study last year found that the agency could save $4 billion and bolster its security activities by replacing the old fleet in 10 to 15 years rather than 20 to 25 years.

Snowe reiterated her support for speedy implementation and conceded that Congress must provide increased funding to do so. But she also criticized the White House for not including a larger request in its fiscal 2006 budget and the reworked initiative.

"The absence of the word acceleration is disturbing," Snowe said.