The Coast Guard received nearly $25 billion in the Trump administration's reconciliation bill to address long-standing maintenance and infrastructure problems and buy additional ships and aircraft.
The "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," signed Friday by President Donald Trump, included a record cash infusion for the U.S. Coast Guard to build ships and aircraft for expanded maritime operations and $6.6 billion for improvements and maintenance of shore infrastructure, depots and training facilities.
The $24.6 billion investment is nearly twice the Coast Guard's annual budget and is in addition to the $14.4 billion the Trump administration has requested for the service for fiscal 2026.
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"This historic investment marks a new era for the Coast Guard," acting Commandant Adm. Kevin Lunday said in a statement Friday. "It ... empowers us to restore our service and prepare for the challenges of today and tomorrow."
The Coast Guard has long struggled to repair and maintain its infrastructure and manage its shipbuilding and upkeep contracts to maintain an adequate fleet of ships and aircraft to sustain regular operations, including drug interdiction, search and rescue, law and fisheries enforcement, and safety.
Since the start of Trump's second term, the service has seen the significant expansion of two of its duties -- migrant interdiction and Pacific patrols, and the boost in the bill underscores these assignments. The Coast Guard, as an armed service housed under the Department of Homeland Security as opposed to the Defense Department, is the only U.S. military service with civil law enforcement powers, and with this authority can actively participate in interdicting, detaining and returning migrants to their countries of origin.
The Government Accountability Office estimated in May that the service's maintenance backlog had grown to at least $7 billion -- a shortfall that left the service unable to address growing problems at its facilities, including substandard housing, sinkholes at a ship repair facility in Maryland, a lack of potable water at its largest base in North Carolina, and more.
It was forced to ground helicopters last year that had been flown past the number of hours recommended by their manufacturer and continues to operate several ships that are nearly 60 years old, including the heavy icebreaker Polar Star and the river buoy tender Wyaconda, homeported in Dubuque, Iowa.
According to the $150 billion One Big Beautiful Bill Act, legislation that addresses nearly every function of American government, including national security, immigration, taxes and medical care, the Coast Guard's share includes funding for the service to buy an estimated 17 icebreakers, 21 cutters, 40 helicopters and six C-130J aircraft.
Under the law, the Coast Guard would receive $4.3 billion for heavy icebreakers, $3.5 billion for three medium ocean-going Arctic icebreakers, $816 million for light and medium icebreakers, and $162 million for three waterways commerce cutters.
It includes $4.3 billion for nine offshore patrol cutters and $1 billion for fast response cutters.
It also includes $2.3 billion for 40 MH-60 helicopters, $1.1 billion for six HC-13J aircraft and simulators, $266 million for long-range unmanned aircraft systems, and $170 million for maritime domain awareness infrastructure.
While the bill allocates a significant windfall for the service, it also slashes some programs that Coast Guard families rely on to make ends meet, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, to buy groceries.
The bill cuts federal funding for SNAP, shifting the difference to states -- a change that state officials and food insecurity experts say could reduce eligibility for those enrolled in the program, including military families.
In its fiscal 2026 budget request, the Coast Guard asked for $14.4 billion, $1 billion more than previous years. That proposal slashed the service's maintenance request by nearly 90%, likely in anticipation of passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
The service's proposed 2026 budget includes funding for two new command-and-control executive jets, unmanned aerial systems for ships, and long-range unmanned aircraft systems.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, initially opposed the legislation because of its proposed cuts to Medicaid and food stamps. After it was tweaked to accommodate Alaska's circumstances, she voted in favor of the legislation.
"There's a lot of good things in the bill, we recognize that. ... There's some good provisions on the tax side, everything from the child tax credit to some of the things with no tax on overtime, some of those things -- the Coast Guard and many of the initiatives," Murkowski said during a press conference July 1.
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