Porter Goss: “in the mayhem to move the budget resolution, the Budget Committee has recommended a major reduction in the Coast Guard…”

“in the mayhem to move the budget resolution, the Budget Committee has recommended a major reduction in the Coast Guard acquisition, construction and improvements account. With less than 24 hours to review the 227-page report, many of us nearly missed this damaging cut. A full $100 million below the President's request, this recommendation is penny-wise and pound-foolish. The Federal Government is already straining and failing to control illegal immigration--we all know that we must maintain adequate capability at our maritime borders. Additionally, the Coast Guard is an organization that we have given more missions than cents--as in dollars and cents. Its duty list is vast, growing, and very costly to fulfill. By failing to provide adequate funding for fiscal year 1995, we doom the Coast Guard to an endless game of catch-up, we risk abandoning Americans to needless danger on the high seas, and we send a steady green light signal to high seas smugglers and drug runners rather than the flashing blue lights of Coast Guard enforcement. Mr. Speaker, we must correct the budget.”