S. Hrg. 103-699 COAST GUARD REAUTHORIZATION U.S. Y 4. C 73/7: S. HRG, 103-699 ii.S. Coast Guard Reauthorization. S. . . HEARING BEFORE TIIE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, AND TRiVNSPORTATION SCIENCE, UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED THIRD CONGRESS SECOND SESSION MAY 1994 3, Prinlcd for the use of Ihe CommitLee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation m OCT 26 «^^-», U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 78-789 CC WASHINGTON : 1994 Forsale by the U.S. Government PrintingOffice SuperintendentofDocuments.Congressional SalesOffice, Washington, DC 20402 ISBN 0-16-044873-5 "70 Tr^/-\ ^ y S. Hug. 103-699 COAST GUARD REAUTHORIZATION U.S. V4.C 73/7; S.HRS. 103-699 i.S. Coast Guard Reauthorization. %... HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, AND TRiLNSPORTATION SCIENCE, UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED THIRD CONGRESS SECOND sp:ssion MAY 1994 3, Printed for the use of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 78-789 CC WASHINGTON 1994 : Forsale by the U.S. Government PrintingOffice SuperintendentofDocuments, Congressional Sales Office, Washington, DC 20402 ISBN 0-16-044873-5 COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION ERNEST F. HOLLINGS, South Carolina, Chairman DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii JOHN C. DANTORTH, MisBouri WENDELL H. FORD, Kentucky BOB PACKWOOD, Oregon J. JAMES EXON, Nebraska LARRY PRESSLER, South Dakota JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, West Virginia TED STEVENS, Alaska JOHN F. KERRY, Massachusetts JOHN MCCAIN, Arizona JOHN B. BREALTC, Louisiana CONRAD BURNS, Montana RICHARD H. BRYAN, Nevada SLADE GORTON, Washington CHARLES S. ROBB, Virginia TRENT LOTT, Mississippi BYRON L. D0RGA:\ North Dakota KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, Texas HARLAN MATHEWS, It,, -ssee Kevin G. <Jurtin, Chief Counsel and Staff Director Jonathan Ciiambers, Republican StaffDirector (II) CONTENTS Page Opening statement ofSenator Hollings 1 Opening statement ofSenator Inouye 2 Opening statement ofSenator Mathews 3 Opening statement ofSenator Stevens 2 Witness Kime, Adm. J. William, Commandant, U.S. Coast Guard 3 Prepared statement 7 Appendix Burns, Senator, prepared statement of 23 Galing, Scott G., Program Manager, Marine Index Bureau Foundation, Inc., prepared statement of 29 Keeter, Phil, President, and Larry Innis, Washington Representative, Marine Retailers Association of America, letter from, to Senator Hollings, dated May 1994 30 11, Legg, Commander William E. Legg, USNR (Ret.), Director, Naval Affairs of the Reserve OfTicers Association of the United States, prepared state- ment of — 23 Oucllettc, Sgt. Major Michael F., USA (Ret.), Director I^egislative Affairs, Non Commissioned Officers Association of the United States of America, prepared statement of 26 (III) COAST GUARD REAUTHORIZATION U.S. MAY TUESDAY, 1994 3, U.S. Senate, Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, DC. Washington, The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:35 a.m. in room SR-253, Russell Senate Office Building, Hon. Ernest F. Boilings (chairman of the committee) presiding. Staff members assigned to this hearing: Penelope D. Dalton, sen- ior professional staff member, and Lila H. Helms, professional staff member; and John A. Moran, minority staff counsel. OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR ROLLINGS The Chairman. The committee will now turn our attention to the programs and funding needs of the U.S. Coast Guard in fiscal year 1995. The Coast Guard budget proposes some hard choices for the up- coming year. President Clinton has requested $3.8 billion, an in- crease of $133 million or less than 4 percent over fiscal year 1994. Most of this increase is used to fund growing acquisition costs for major projects including coastal and seagoing buoy tender replace- ments, procurement of the new motor lifeboats and small patrol boats, continued development of vessel traffic surface systems for high-risk ports, and icebreaker-related costs. In addition, over $80 million is needed to fund built-in changes such as pay increases, cost-of-living allowances, and retired pay in- creases. These mandatory increases are offset by reductions in Coast Guard operating expenses requiring closure of 14 stations or detachments, the reduction of 11 ships in the cutter fleet, laying up 9 HU-25 Falcon Jet aircraft. In addition, the budget proposes to terminate State boating safety grants, transfer of financing for al- teration of bridges from the Coast Guard to the Federal Highway Administration, and to reduce the Coast Guard Reserve Force by 1,000 billets. I know that these were difficult decisions to make, and I am in- terested in discussing how they will affect the Coast Guard's ability to carry out its many missions. Those missions have grown both in number and in complexity in recent years, a fact that is illustrated by the Coast Guard's own statistics. On any average day in 1993, the Coast Guard saved 15 lives, assisted 330 people, responded to 34 oil or hazardous chemi- cal spills, inspected 64 commercial vessels, seized 318 pounds of marijuana and 253 pounds of cocaine with a street value of $7.7 million, serviced 150 aids to navigation, interdicted 112 illegal (1) alien, and that is an impressive record but it is one that the Coast Guard may not be able to maintain unless it continues to receive adequate funding and support. This hearing also marks Admiral Kime's final appearance before the committee as Commandant. Admiral Kime, I want to offer my personal thanks for the outstanding work that you have done at the helm of the Coast Guard. It is hard to believe that it has been 4 years since you took the Commandant's seat, but during your tenure you have provided strong leadership as the Coast Guard's missions have continued to evolve in response to national needs. In particular I recognize your success in strengthening the Coast Guard's focus on marine environmental protection, and in imple- menting the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. In my short time in the Sen- ate I have worked with about 10 Commandants, and none has been of more outstanding character, service, and dedication than your- Admiral Kime. self. I know that Senators Stevens, Inouye, and Mathews would also like to comment. Senator Stevens. OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR STEVENS Senator Stevens. I want to ioin the chairman in his remarks about Admiral Kime. I regret that these watches of yours are so short. The time has gone by very quickly, Admiral, and I think you have left very large footprints for your successor. I will have some questions, Mr. Chairman, when it comes time to review the budget. Admiral Kime, I want to particularly thank you for your personal involvement in reaching the agreements that we now have the central Bering Sea and the other agreements that protect our fish- eries, and for your dramatic action with regard to those four driftnet vessels that were seized under the U.N. ban last year. All of those actions are to your great credit. Thank you very much. The Chairman. Thank Senator you. Inouye. OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR INOUYE Senator Inouye. Mr. Chairman, on behalf of the people of Ha- waii, I wish to thank the Admiral for the service he has rendered us. There are hundreds of families in Hawaii who give daily pray- ers of thanksgiving to the Coast Guard for having rescued their loved ones. Our shipping industry and our fishing industry are most grateful to all of you. I concur with Senator Stevens, your shoes are huge and I just hope that Admiral Kramek will be able to fill them. We will do our best to assist him in his mission. But as I indi- cated to our new Commandant-designate, your agency is one of the least understood and least appreciated of all the agencies in the Federal Grovernment. And I do not think that you should be part of the military drawdown because your mission is expanding. It is not diminishing at all. The drug problem grows and grows with each day. There are more fishermen on the high seas with each day. There are more pleasure cruises, Americans in lakes and in rivers and in the ocean. And so I can assure you that we who have some say in appro- priation will do our best to make certain that you get what you want. And if you think that you are being shortchanged, I hope you will feel free to tell us. Thank you. The Chairman. Senator Mathews. OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR MATHEWS Senator Mathews. Very shortly, Admiral, I would like to join my colleagues in expressing the thanks of the people of this Nation and in particular from Tennessee for your period of outstanding service. As I indicated earlier, I think you were in the room when I made my statement about the boating safety program. This is the one in which I have a particular interest in as much as our coastline is internal rather than external, and I am going to file some material for the record, and I hope that you will have the appropriate person respond to this. I just want to wish you well in whatever the next assignment is. Thank Mr. Chairman. you, The Chairman. Thank you. Admiral Kime, we welcome you and we are delighted to hear from you at this time. STATEMENT OF ADM. J. WILLIAM KIME, COMMANDANT, U.S. COAST GUARD; ACCOMPANIED BY CAPT. THOMAS COLLINS, CHIEF OF PROGRAMS DIVISION, AND CAPT. TERRY CROSS, CHIEF OF BUDGET DIVISION, U.S. COAST GUARD Admiral Kime. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. First let me say thank you very much for the very kind words you had about the U.S. Coast Guard. We have some very outstanding men and women, some young and some not so young, out there on a day-to-day basis doing a tremendous job for the people of this country, I appreciate on their behalf your very kind words to me. Let me say that the support of this committee over the years has been tre- mendous, and with the demands being placed on us to do more and more in different areas, and at the same time budget constraints, we could not have done the job that we have done without the very, very strong support of this committee and also this committee's staff. And, personally, those of you who have spoken this morning have made a tremendous impact in providing the Coast Guard with the necessary guidance, authority, and funds to do the iob that we are called upon to do on a day-to-day basis. Your words this morning are very reassuring and I appreciate them very, very much. I think that you will find that Admiral Kramek will do an out- standing job as the next Commandant of the Coast Guard. I think we have chosen him very wisely to be the next Commandant. I think he has chosen an outstanding team, and you met Admiral Henn this morning and the others that he is surrounding himself with who I think will do an outstanding job in the future. But personally, I would like to thank you, Mr. Chairman, you. Senator Stevens, and although Senator Inouye is now gone, nim also for the very strong personal support that you have given. It does not seem like 4 years ago. It is 1 week short, because I remember the day very well, of 4 years that I sat before this com- mittee for my confirmation hearing. I remember it well because my wife was back on the west coast packing up the house with me gone, and assuming it was a plot, Mr. Chairman, between you and me me to get out of that duty. It has gone very, very quickly and I have enjoyed it very much. Mr. Chairman, I know there are a great many issues that you would like to cover today, and I would ask that my statement be included in its entirety for the record, and that I be allowed to make a short introductory statement. The Chairman. It will be included. Admiral KiME. Well, Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to appear be- fore this distinguished committee today, my last appearance prob- ably before the Congress of the United States as Commandant, to discuss our fiscal year 1995 budget and its impact on the current and future state of our service. With me on my right is Capt. Tom Collins, chief of our programs division, and on my left, Capt. Terry Cross who is chief of the budg- et division. As you know, the President has initiated some significant changes to address the Nation's need, and I strongly support these initiatives and am here today to explain how the Coast Guard's fis- cal year 1995 budget request furthers these initiatives. Our fiscal year 1995 budget clearly supports the administration's goals of deficit reduction and investment, and it includes streamlin- ing initiatives which, when fully annualized, total over $100 mil- lion, and it provides for essential Coast Guard infrastructure in- vestment. Many of the streamlining initiatives proposed make good budget sense, and I would recommend them regardless of the budget con- straints. However, developing this budget was not easy. We had to make some very difficult choices. — As an example, our request proposes t—hat we and you indicated much of this in your opening statement reduce the Coast Guard workforce by 1,013 military and 113 civilian employees, and that is about 2.5 percent of our workforce, decommission 11 of 195 multimission cutters, remove from active service 9 of 180 multimission aircraft, close approximately 14 of our 166 multimission boat stations, further reduce the size of the Reserves from 8,000 to 7,000, and eliminate the boating safety grants to the States. I would prefer not having to propose some of these reductions, but these and other initiatives were needed to meet the Presi- dential and congressional deficit reduction goals and specific spend- ing caps. I am acutely aware of our responsibilities to the public, and we did not make any of these decisions quickly or lightly. We worked hard with DOT and 0MB to carefully craft the budget that we have before you today. The reductions included in our requests were carefully selected to minimize the adverse impact on our abil- ity to deliver services to the public. Therefore, I am concerned that if we are precluded from taking the proposed reductions the resulting actions we would be required to take to meet the budget targets could adversely affect our ability to deliver essential services to the public.