The U.S. Coast Guard has asked for an additional $50 million in President Donald Trump's proposed budget to pay for a "new Gulfstream 5 jet for Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem," Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-IL) noted on X.
"My committee just received a last-minute addition to the Coast Guard’s spend plan: $50 million for a new Gulfstream 5 jet for DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s personal use," Underwood wrote on X. "She already has a Gulfstream 5, by the way, but she wants a new one paid for with your taxpayer dollars."
The comments came amid a hearing in the House Committee on Appropriations subcommittee that handles homeland Security.
At the start of the hearing, she said that the Coast Guard must already do more with fewer resources. She told Admiral Kevin E. Lunday that she "strongly supports... large increases to your budget."
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"But I'm concerned that this administration's political goals are shifting those political resources away from strategic theaters where bad actors are aggressively testing American resolve," Underwood said.
"Have you received any outreach, requests or other communication from anyone above you at DHS or any political appointee in the Trump administration for a new plane for the secretary?" she asked.
Lunday said that the Coast Guard operates two long-range, command and control aircraft. He described the jets as C-37 variant. The Air Force website explained, "the C-37A is based upon Gulfstream V aircraft and the C-37B is based upon Gulfstream 550."
"The 89th Airlift Wing, 99th Airlift Squadron, has four C-37As and received its fifth C-37B in March 2020 at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. The 15th Airlift Wing, 65th Airlift Squadron at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, has two C-37As. The 86th Airlift Wing, 76th Airlift Squadron at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, has three C-37As," the site said.
Lunday said that one of the two planes is old and its "avionics are increasingly obsolete," and "communications are increasingly unreliable." He confirmed that six officials use the jets and that they're needed to provide "reliable communications" as "our operational forces are conducting missions and then come back here to Washington to make sure we can work together to get them what they need."
Underwood noted that her time expired but that Lunday never answered whether he was directed to buy the planes by political appointees or anyone in the Trump administration.
"We should be investing in our national security and improving the lives of our Coasties – not wasting taxpayer dollars on luxury travel and political stunts.
Underwood also asked the admiral how many deportation flights the Coast Guard had flown. He answered that since Jan. 20, the Coast Guard had flown 157 such flights "in support of other Department of Homeland Security components for southern border security operations."
See the hearing below at the 33-minute mark or at the link here.
- YouTubewww.youtube.com
