PASCAGOULA, Miss. – Nearly a decade into a 25-year, $24.2 billion overhaul intended to add more than 250 vessels to its aging fleet, the Coast Guard has two new ships to show after spending $7 billion-plus.
Now it’s facing an uphill battle persuading a budget-conscious Congress to keep pouring money into a project plagued by management problems and cost overruns.
“Congress wants to work with the Coast Guard to meet their needs for its myriad missions, but will not simply supply a blank check,” said GOP Rep. Frank LoBiondo of New Jersey, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee that oversees the Coast Guard.
By now the Coast Guard was supposed to have at least eight new ships — four 418-foot national security cutters and four 154-foot cutters — either in the water or about to be delivered. Instead it has only two of the largest ships already in use, with two ships more on the way.
LoBiondo and others in Congress, including Rep. Bennie Thompson, the top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, repeatedly have questioned the progress and scope of the fleet overhaul.
Government auditors have concluded that the Coast Guard still doesn’t know the answers to those questions.
The two completed
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