On Wednesday, President Obama praised America’s servicemembers for their remarkable response to the crisis in Haiti. He included the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard in an appropriate acknowledgment. These exceptional men and women deserve all our gratitude and appreciation for their tireless work at home and around the globe.
A useful way to truly thank them is for Congress and the Administration to provide all the necessary resources for those in uniform to get the job done quickly while minimizing losses and maximizing mission success.
Unfortunately, if one follows the money trail, America is falling short when it comes to adequately resourcing the military—including the U.S. Coast Guard.
As a consequence of President Obama’s fiscal year 2011 budget request, the Coast Guard is being “forced to make asset reduction decisions without full appreciation of the impact of those reductions to operational performance.” That’s according to an internal Coast Guard memo (PDF) penned late last year by the nominee to be the next Coast Guard commandant, Vice Adm. R. J. Papp.
The President’s proposed budget threatens to cut the Coast Guard’s blue water fleet by a full one-third, slash 1,000 personnel, five cutters, and several aircraft, including helicopters. The budget is clearly inadequate to support the recapitalization of aging platforms. Insufficient resources will force the men and women in the Coast Guard to assume additional risk and jeapordize the ability to respond to maritime crises.
Even with the Coast Guard’s growth due to its increased demands in a post-9/11 era, this critical service is still taking on water. Coast Guard cutters and aircraft were the first ones on scene in Haiti, arriving at dawn the day after the disaster. The Coast Guard’s agility reaped huge dividends in the eyes of desperate Haitians. However, the rest of the story tells otherwise.
As we report in our WebMemo:
In his final State of the Coast Guard Address as Commandant, Admiral Allen reported, “Of the 12 major cutters assigned to Haiti relief operations, 10, or 83 percent, suffered severe emission affecting casualties. Two were forced to return to port for emergency repairs, and one proceeded to an emergency dry dock.”
The decrepit state of the Coast Guard fleet caused the service to divert air power from rescue operations to deliver spare parts. The mismatched demands of the nation and the President’s budget cuts for the Coast Guard are unacceptable.
Haiti exposed the urgent need to recapitalize the Coast Guard. The Administration should thank those in uniform by fixing their aging equipment problems, not making them worse.
In his State of the Union address tonight, President Obama is expected to announce a freeze on federal spending with some notable exceptions including one for defense spending. Today, The Heritage Foundation releases a chart book examining the state of the U.S. military.
Most Americans already know the U.S. military is unmatched throughout the world. What they don’t know is that a deeper look reveals the state of the military is one in need of recapitalization after eight years of warfare and coming off a previous decade of underinvestment.
While the men and women in uniform are the best-led and best-trained, their equipment is not keeping up with modern demands. Over the next few days, Heritage will explore some of the trends that have emerged in the Administration’s defense policy and what they mean for national security.
The bottom line: defense spending is under pressure from exploding domestic entitlements. The defense budget is historically low relative to all the nation’s previous wars, and the military’s budget is dwarfed by Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, growing exponentially on autopilot. In 2009, defense spending was also eclipsed by financial bailouts and out-of-control spending on other domestic programs.
Defense spending is less than one-fifth of the federal budget, and defense is clearly not the source of the federal government’s fiscal woes.
Spending on America’s military is also facing pressure from interest payments on the national debt. Although net interest was only 5.3 percent of the federal budget in 2009 due to record low interest rates and the global economic downturn, it was almost 8.5 percent of the budget in 2008. It is on track to return to similar levels in the next three years.
President Obama’s ten-year budget plan will reduce the defense budget significantly at a time when the military must recover from the wear and tear of wartime. As entitlements, domestic programs, and interest payments balloon, policymakers in Washington are likely to continue turning to the defense budget as a billpayer and bailout.
Washington must address the urgent, ongoing needs of those in uniform or risk further declining readiness and the loss of capabilities the nation has come to rely on for over one half-century. Providing for the common defense is the first job of government.
This investment priority on America’s military should be an easy choice for Washington.