Lieberman said, Bush's actions left our waterways "exposed to future terrorist violence."A few weeks ago, Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., referred to the Coast Guard funding cuts in President Obama's budget "a recipe for disaster."

Mica said Obama's $100 million proposal cut for anti-terrorism offshore, waterway and port security are "unacceptable and extremely irresponsible."Lieberman and Mica shared the common grounds of the minority and powerless during their protest. The Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force - are receiving a 3 percent increase in spending, not including Obama's wars in Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan. And yet the Coast Guard with its 220 year history, is getting major cuts despite 17 new tasks thrown at them since 9/11. Obama's nominee to command the Coast Guard is faithfully going along with the proposed slashes. Vice Admiral Robert J. Papp Jr., according to an internal memo obtained by the Associated Press, would ultimately slash funding for anti-terrorism training and patrols. He would also be reducing Coast Guard coverage for susceptible coastal areas where terrorist attacks could be deadly as well as reducing Coast Guard anti-drug patrols in the Caribbean.

Basically, Obama and Papp plan to dismiss five specially trained anti-terror teams currently covering the nation's ports, cutting the amount of ocean-going cutters by a third, and purge 10 Coast Guard helicopters. Obama also intends to cut the Coast Guard's uniformed force approximately 1,100 and retire four search and surveillance jets. The bipartisan Government Accountability Office reports that the service is already paying for chronic budget restraint in loss of combat readiness. It's now down to a mere 44 percent of preparedness.Meaning, both Bush and Obama have left the Coast Guard less than half ready to confront terrorists, human trafficking, potential sabotage and drug dealers. The GAO clearly warns that the Obama budget's retirement of cutters leave our national defenses "at extreme risk." The administration policy by far surpasses nonchalance; it's right out stupid. These Obama "initiatives" serve Republicans well who have already charged that Obama is contingent about terrorism and hopes to exploit abject "fear" of the president to establish major gains in the House and Senate in November.

The Coast Guard suffers from an ongoing influence deficiency. Its quite obvious, unlike our four armed services that have received an enormous complex of support from weapons makers, the Coast Guard is merely a bureaucratic step-child. The coast guard has no chief of staff at the Pentagon. Rather it has been shuttled in the past few years from the Treasury to the Transportation Department, and currently remains buried deeply in the Homeland Security Department.