Influential Congressman Writes Letter to All Coast Guard Servicemembers

By: Aniela Szymanski, Chief Policy Officer

This week, Congressman Salud Carbajal, Ranking Member of the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee, part of the House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, wrote an open letter to members of the United States Coast Guard, highlighting issues of concern and asking the President to focus his efforts on improving them.

Congressman Carbajal, a Marine veteran, praised members of the Coast Guard, stating "What I’ve learned is that each and every one of you does important work under incredibly difficult circumstances.  I’ve also witnessed your strong commitment to our country and each other." He asked the Administration to address housing costs in high cost of living areas, something that uniquely impacts the Coast Guard given the variety of locations Coasties are stationed. He also cited the cuts to overseas COLA, something that is a creep on military compensation.

CWOA has prioritized these same issues consistently in our advocacy efforts. CWOA members have voiced their concerns about housing costs repeatedly. These advocacy efforts are especially important for our members because the recently released Quadrennial Review of Military Compensation actually found that "BAH is higher than median spending on rent and utilities by comparable civilians." These "across the board" assessments, however, do not take into account the Coast Guard anomalies.

Congressman Carbajal also mentioned, "When I visited Detroit, I learned that Coasties serving aboard on icebreakers were unable to take leave because there was nobody to fill in. Where is the Executive Order increasing recruitment and retention?" While the Coast Guard exceeded its recruiting goals for 2024, it failed to meet recruiting goals for the prior eight years in a row. There is obviously still ground to make up as a result. Further, some of the success of 2024 was attributed to changes to recruiting policies such as increasing the maximum age of enlistment from 35 to 42 and allowing single parents to enlist.

The Coast Guard is likely to continue to get increasing attention with legislators and policy makers given the Administration's priorities. Congressman Carbajal encouraged Coasties to contact Congress to share their issues and concerns. The visibility of the Coast Guard on the national stage presents opportunities to make changes that are needed and CWOA will advocate in any forum necessary to achieve these goals.