Holy Hulls!

I realize Rep. Harold Rogers, R-Ky., chairman of the House Appropriations' homeland security subcommittee, is trying to make a point by slashing the budget for the Coast Guard's Deepwater project by hundreds of millions of dollars because he's not satisfied with budgetary information supplied by the agency and the Homeland Security Department. But is that really worth putting the lives of Coast Guard members at risk? Washington Times reports today that the problem of corrision on the hulls of the Coast Guard's 110-foot cutters has become so acute that many actually have holes where water pours through. Only a quarter of the Coast Guard's fast-response fleet is mission-capable, and the agency is now seeking to replace all of the boats, starting in 2007. Of course, they'll have to get through Rogers first.