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Trump Announces Funding For Icebreakers At Coast Guard Commencement

U.S. Coast Guard
The "Polar Sea" is a U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker commissioned into service in 1978. The ship served beyond its intended 30 years, ending in 2011 after an engine casualty.

President Donald Trump’s budget priorities, which he released in March, proposed a $1 billion cut to the U.S. Coast Guard’s approximately $11 billion budget. That could have possibly halted construction on replacement cutters and the acquisition of new icebreaker vessels.

But at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy's commencement exercises in New London on Wednesday, Trump appeared to reverse course, announcing an upgrade to the Coast Guard's fleet of icebreakers.  

"It's only the Coast Guard that has the power to break through 21 feet of rock solid Arctic ice -- right?" Trump said to the crowd. "And I am proud to say that under my administration... we will be building the first new heavy icebreakers the United States has seen in over 40 years. We're gonna build many of them. We need 'em," Trump told the crowd.

Credit Ryan Caron King / WNPR/Creative Commons
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WNPR/Creative Commons
President Donald Trump speaks at the U.S. Coast Guard commencement on Wednesday, May 17, 2017.

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Admiral Paul Zukunft, Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, said during his commencement speech that heavy duty icebreakers are a vital part of security in and around the Arctic Circle.

"When I meet all of the Arctic nations, they look to the United States Coast Guard as the leader in the Arctic," Zukunft told the audience. "As they see this world open up, what fills that vacuum? And they look to the United States Coast Guard to fill that vacuum."

Credit Ryan Caron King / WNPR/Creative Commons
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WNPR/Creative Commons
Admiral Paul Zukunft, Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, speaks during the commencement ceremony on Wednesday, May 17, 2017.

Zukunft told the graduating cadets and their families that the Trump administration has promised to build six new heavy icebreaker vessels, with the first icebreaker on a fast track for completion.

Icebreakers are powerful ships with reinforced hulls that can push through sea ice and provide safe passage for other vessels.

Ray Hardman is Connecticut Public’s Arts and Culture Reporter. He is the host of CPTV’s Emmy-nominated original series Where Art Thou? Listeners to Connecticut Public Radio may know Ray as the local voice of Morning Edition, and later of All Things Considered.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT is an initiative from Connecticut Public, the state’s local NPR and PBS station, to elevate Latino stories and expand programming that uplifts and informs our Latino communities. Visit CTPublic.org/latino for more stories and resources. For updates, sign up for the SOMOS CONNECTICUT newsletter at ctpublic.org/newsletters.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.