Gov. Terry McAuliffe comments on President Trump’s proposed budget that would cut $1.3 billion from the Coast Guard to pay for the border wall with Mexico.
“Slashing the Coast Guard budget in order to pay for a needless and impractical border wall will make our nation less safe and kill jobs in states like Virginia.
“This proposal is not about making our nation safer, it’s about keeping a misguided campaign promise. Last year the Coast Guard was responsible for 6,100 interdictions of individuals who could have potentially violated U.S. law and threatened the safety of our communities. In other words, the men and women of the Coast Guard are already doing the job of keeping our borders secure, hamstringing those efforts would be reckless under any scenario.
“Virginia has the largest concentration of Coast Guard members working within our borders of any state in the nation. They protect our shores and they also contribute significantly to our economy. On behalf of the people of Virginia I urge President Trump to scrap this foolish proposal and get behind the men and women who are already doing the hard work of keeping our country safe.”
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