Ranking Member Carbajal: Coast Guard needs sustained funding to maintain readiness, international partnerships

Ranking Member Carbajal opened the hearing by praising the U.S. Coast Guard as "the nation's premier multi mission law enforcement agency," stressing its dual role in homeland security and national defense and its partnerships with other nations and agencies.

Carbajal said the Coast Guard's counterdrug and boarding operations produce critical intelligence and credited "precise and professional actions" by boarding teams for those results. He warned that increasing mission demands have not been matched by commensurate budget growth: "I am very concerned that the Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill will not appropriately fund the coast guard operations and support account," he said, citing Government Accountability Office findings that insufficient asset readiness and workforce shortages hinder the service's impact.

He framed the Coast Guard's international agreements and operations as a form of strategic diplomacy that helps preserve rules-based order in the maritime domain, and noted the service's work with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to protect and enforce domestic fisheries, a multibillion-dollar industry.

Addressing recent enforcement actions, Carbajal pointed to the Coast Guard's detention and seizure of so-called "dark fleet" vessels operating outside international law and said those incidents underscore risks associated with a flag-of-convenience system. "American flag vessels are owned by Americans, crewed by American mariners, and follow American laws," he said, adding that the U.S. should encourage other countries to adopt similar standards.

Carbajal concluded by expressing pride in Coast Guard personnel and yielded back his time. The hearing proceeded after his opening remarks; no formal votes or motions were recorded in this portion of the transcript.