AM 890 and kbbi.org: Serving the Kenai Peninsula
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Alaska Senators Decry Proposed Coast Guard Funding Cuts

uscg.mil

  Both of Alaska’s U.S. senators wrote the White House budget director last week to ask him to spare the Coast Guard from the budget axe.  

According to the Washington Post and other news outlets, President Trump is planning to reduce funding for the Coast Guard by nearly 12 percent in his budget request to Congress. 

Nearly two dozen U.S. senators signed a letter asking Office of Management and Budget Director John Mulvaney to reconsider. 

They said such a cut would run counter to the president’s goal of greater military investment and make it harder for the Coast Guard to stop drug traffic. 

The letter also cites the nation’s need for more icebreakers as Arctic ship traffic increases. 

Among the 23 senators who signed, the only Republicans were the Alaskans, Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, and Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker.