The Coast Guard's infrastructure repair and maintenance backlog has grown to at least $7 billion, a shortfall that government analysts say poses risks to personnel and operations.
According to the Government Accountability Office, the cost of the service's deferred maintenance for shore infrastructure has risen by nearly $5 billion in the past three years, and almost half that infrastructure is beyond its service life.
The GAO first reviewed the Coast Guard's shore infrastructure backlog in 2019 and made six recommendations for the service to track projects and improve facilities. Heather MacLeod, the GAO's director of homeland security and justice programs, said that the Coast Guard's budget decisions and inadequate planning have contributed to the surge in costs.
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"Current funding levels are only adequate to address the most pressing needs, which tend to be unplanned repairs," MacLeod told members of a House Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee hearing Wednesday.
The Coast Guard is responsible for nearly 20,000 shore assets, including houses, buildings, hangars, runways, piers and more, in 2,700 locations. Its annual budget, however, has not included funding to fully address proper upkeep and repair for at least the past five years, according to the GAO.
Service officials already have said they will not be able to address any of the projects if funding remains at fiscal 2024 levels -- a likelihood if Congress does not pass any fiscal 2025 appropriations bills and instead approves a continuing resolution that keeps funding at previous budget levels.
The GAO said the backlog also affects acquisitions in the short and long terms, requiring the service to make trade-offs with its roughly $12 billion discretionary budget. It requested $12.3 billion for fiscal 2025.
Former Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Linda Fagan had advocated for the service to receive an annual budget of $20 billion by 2030.
Fagan was fired the day after President Donald Trump took office on Jan. 20, but Vice Adm. Thomas Allan, acting deputy commandant for operations, told the House subcommittee that the service was still on track to reach that goal.
"[The Office of Management and Budget has] told us they want us to be a $20 billion organization by the end of the president's term," Allan said.
He did not say how much of that funding would be used to address the maintenance backlog, however, and the service has a number of high-dollar acquisitions projects underway, including building the nation's first heavy duty icebreaker in more than five decades, and 25 new offshore patrol cutters.
According to the GAO and lawmakers, the Coast Guard's infrastructure problems include substandard housing for service members and families; sinkholes at the Coast Guard Yard in Maryland; and deteriorating facilities at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, and the Coast Guard Training Center in Cape May, New Jersey.
Last year, the service temporarily closed a small boat station on the Sacramento River in California because it had been overrun by mice.
During the hearing, Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., said he has traveled to numerous Coast Guard facilities, touring housing and offices.
"I've seen firsthand the unacceptable living and working conditions, and no service member should be asked to live with mold or asbestos, nor should they have to work with a tarp over their head," Larsen said during the hearing.
The GAO made a number of recommendations to the Coast Guard to improve efforts in addressing the backlog. They included reporting accurate information and budget requests to Congress, prioritizing investments, and a review of infrastructure with respect to missions to determine whether any assets could be sold or disposed of.
MacLeod said the service has a modeling system that will help assess overall cost to address the backlog, adjusting for inflation.
"The Coast Guard has taken some positive steps but could do more to improve the management of its vast and aging infrastructure," MacLeod said.
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