www.TheDay.com: Eastern Connecticut's News Source Fund the Coast Guard Published on 7/3/2001 If history is a great teacher, why is it that the Congress consistently fails to fund the Coast Guard adequately? Time after time, the under-financed Coast Guard finds itself in red ink part way through the fiscal year and is forced to cut its ship and air support for critical missions. Doesn't Congress understand that the Coast Guard needs money to perform the missions it's assigned? The sad conclusion is that the Coast Guard, a branch of the Department of Transportation, lacks the built-in constituencies that rally to support the Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force. All of those services have camps or bases of considerable sizes scattered about the country and therefore provide large numbers of jobs to constituents in many congressional districts. The Army, Air Force, Marines and Navy number in the millions of total personnel. By comparison, the Coast Guard has a small operation of 35,000 active duty personnel that results in a lot less political muscle. Yet the Coast Guard fulfills a huge amount of assignments: Search-and-rescue, drug interdiction, maritime safety, port security, inspection of merchant vessels, international ice patrol, defense missions such as anti-terrorism. The Coast Guard's missions have a tremendous influence on the economy because of the service's work with commercial vessels. A stunning 95 percent of foreign trade with the United States comes in and out of American ports. The Coast Guard maintains those waterways. In addition, the Coast Guard patrols and maintains the domestic trade on major Midwestern rivers and ports. The House of Representatives has provided only a paltry $3.38 billion for next year's operating expenses and $5 billion overall. Unlike some military spending, the Coast Guard allocation has no fat in it. Truth in budgeting has long since become a staple of the Coast Guard operation. The record this year is proof. Already, the Coast Guard has a $91 million deficit and has reduced air and sea patrols by 10 percent. The Coast Guard is polite about its budget dilemma, saying only that it is working closely with the Congress to provide excellent service to the people of the United States. Essential services won't be cut, the Coast Guard contends. But cutting air and sea patrols by 10 percent means lives are put at risk. On average, the Coast Guard saves about 10 people and conducts 109 rescue missions every day. How would a member of Congress feel if he or she or family members happened to fall by the wayside at sea because the Coast Guard had to reduce patrols? The people of the Coast Guard are extraordinary in their ability to do huge amounts of work with few people and tight resources. But even for heroic efforts, there is a limit. Congress should fund the Coast Guard to reflect the importance of its work. The Day's readers can help to make that happen by writing to Sens. Christopher J. Dodd and Joseph I. Lieberman and Congressman Rob Simmons to provide the Coast Guard the money it needs.