Sponsors (2)
The bill centralizes Coast Guard leadership under a Senate‑confirmed civilian Secretary to boost accountability, readiness, and transparency, but it imposes new costs, transitional disruption, potential interagency friction, and limits on who can serve in the new role.
Coast Guard personnel and the public: establishes a Senate‑confirmed Secretary of the Coast Guard with clear authority and centralized reporting within DHS, improving civilian accountability and clearer chains of command for Coast Guard missions.
Active-duty Coast Guard members and mission planners: gives the new Secretary explicit authority over recruiting, training, equipping, and R&D, which can improve readiness, personnel quality, and mission effectiveness over time.
Taxpayers and oversight bodies: requires DHS to submit a reorganization plan within 30 days specifying personnel, assets, and funding transfers, increasing transparency about implementation steps and costs.
Federal agencies, state partners, and mission partners: creating a new civilian leadership layer and changing authorities may produce interagency and jurisdictional friction (with DOD, DHS components, and state actors) and require statutory fixes across Titles 10 and 14 and navigation laws.
Coast Guard members and DHS staff: shifting authorities and reporting lines could cause short‑term operational and management disruption as duties move from existing DHS offices and from the Commandant to the new Secretary.
All taxpayers: establishing a new Senate‑confirmed executive position likely increases federal personnel costs (salary, staff, office), producing a recurring taxpayer expense.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Establishes a Senate‑confirmed Secretary of the Coast Guard within DHS, makes the Commandant report to that Secretary, and updates statutory references and Navy exceptions.
Introduced March 27, 2025 by Richard Lynn Scott · Last progress March 27, 2025
Creates a presidentially appointed, Senate‑confirmed statutory position of Secretary of the Coast Guard inside the Department of Homeland Security and makes the Coast Guard Commandant report to that Secretary while preserving an exception when the Coast Guard is operating as a service in the Navy. It updates many code cross‑references and reporting lines so that statutory duties and authorities that previously referenced the Secretary of Homeland Security will instead reference the new Secretary of the Coast Guard where appropriate. The change reorganizes the statutory chain of command and clarifies who supervises the Coast Guard within DHS, allows the Secretary of the Coast Guard to advise the Secretary of the Navy when the service is assigned to the Navy, and prevents certain current officers from temporarily acting in the new Secretary role; no explicit new funding or appropriations are specified in the text provided.