The USNI news service is reporting,
“The Coast Guard’s Fiscal Year 2016 budget request falls $69 million short of fully funding the Offshore Patrol Cutter (OPC) and instead relies on a funding transfer authority that would let Department of Homeland Security leadership provide the additional funding if the program is deemed affordable and on track, Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Paul Zukunft told the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday.”
There is supposed to be provision for transferring money into the account if the program is “affordable” and if the Department has not already spent the money on something else.
This is a new low for the Department in failure to act responsibly.
Chuck Hill's CG Blog 
Why doesn’t the DoD transfer money over to the coast guard for military readiness. The money that the DoD waste away on just some of their craptastic programs could not only fund the coast guard with new ships but also increase it
Actually I am working on something along those lines. But from the DOD point of view they are hurting for money too.
Has the US Congress approved the DHS/USCG 2015 budget?
Yes, but the DHS budget was the last part of the FY2015 budget approved.
At the end of the day, the $ comes from Congress, not DHS and not the Navy. Trying to shift from one middleman to another is a waste of time. Either the COMDT can sell Congress on the OPC or it doesn’t get fully funded – it is as simple as that.
The priorities of the middlemen do matter. The Administration’s budget is a starting point for deliberation, and while it does happen, it is difficult to add things to a proposed budget. Plus subordinates who step out of line from what the “middle-man” supports may not be allowed express his argument.
There is also the fact that the degree of circumspection applied to a line item depends on what budget it is part of. A billion dollars in the DHS budget is a big deal. In the DOD budget, it is hardly noticeable.
I was in from 64-68, and it seems the same ole song and dance. The CG getting short changed again. Will it ever end?
If I may ask. How many Hamilton’s were we originally going to get before we cut back to 12?
Originally there were to have been 36. That was to replace six 327s, twelve 255s, and eighteen 311s. But then the ocean station program went away. Even so we retained the six 327s and one 311 (Unimak) for quit a while.
The other time we seem to have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory was when we failed to replace all the WWII vintage WMECs leaving us 213s, 205s, 143s, and 180 WMECs long after they should have been replaced.
I talk about our ship building history here: https://chuckhillscgblog.net/2011/01/05/how-we-got-in-this-mess-a-short-history-of-cg-shipbuilding/
The OPC would not be underfunded if the USCG leadership had the courage to hold ICGS financially and legally responsible for the condition of the fleet as it relates to the contract mission performance guaranty. Look at that contract. The avenue is very clear.
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