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The Hill
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Hill
House Democrats demand answers from Noem on plans for $50M jet
Democrats are demanding answers about a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) plan to purchase a new $50 million jet for Secretary Kristi Noem. The jet, slotted in as a line item to the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) budget, comes as the department argues its current plane is beyond its operational usage hours. 'Reports indicate this jet would cost $50 million and replace one of the two Gulfstream jets already at your disposal. Funding the acquisition of this new jet would come at the cost of other USCG investments, including sorely needed modernization of the USCG's aging aircraft fleet used by service members for search and rescue and other critical missions,' Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) wrote in a letter to Noem alongside Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.). Both Democrats sit on the House Homeland Security panel. Thompson is the panel's ranking member. 'Simply put, your purchase of a new jet would directly diminish the availability of other USCG aircraft to carry out critical missions,' the two wrote. The letter from the two lawmakers describes an aging fleet of Coast Guard aircraft, noting that many entered service in the 1980s and 1990s, in contrast with the current Gulfstream used for Noem's travel, which was purchased in 2002. They also point to a Government Accountability Office report finding that the Coast Guard has had trouble securing parts for its helicopters as the manufacturer no longer produces them. The letter asks DHS to detail flights taken by Noem on two existing jets used for travel as well as a breakdown of all Coast Guard aircraft that 'have a service life expiration date' prior to the two Gulfstreams. DHS did not immediately respond to request for comment Friday but has previously defended the need for the jets. 'The current CG-101 G550 is over twenty years old, outside of Gulfstream's service life, and well beyond operational usage hours for a corporate aircraft,' Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs, said in a statement when news of the budget request was first reported. 'This is a matter of safety. Much like the Coast Guard's ships that are well beyond their service life and safe operational usage, Coast Guard's aircraft are too,' she added. 'This Administration is taking action to restore our Nation's finest maritime Armed Service to a capable fighting force.' Coast Guard Adm. Kevin Lunday was grilled about the request when appearing before the House Appropriations Committee earlier this month. 'I was horrified last Friday when we received a last minute addition to your spend plan for fiscal '25, a new $50 million Gulfstream 5 for Secretary Noem's personal travel coming from the Coast Guard budget. She already has a Gulfstream 5, by the way, this is a new one,' said Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-Ill.), the top Democrat on the committee's Subcommittee on Homeland Security. Lunday described the plane as 'old, and it's approaching obsolescence and the end of its service life, the avionics are increasingly obsolete, the communications are increasingly unreliable, and it's in need of recapitalization, like much of the rest of the fleet.' Thompson and McIver said the bid for a new plane for Noem echoes President Trump's efforts to secure a new Air Force One from Qatar. 'We know President Trump has set a high bar for wasteful luxury travel by government officials with his unconstitutional attempt to personally acquire a $400 million jet from a foreign government. That does not mean members of his Cabinet must follow suit,' they wrote. 'Your desire to travel in luxury should not eclipse the need for USCG service members to fly safely and conduct lifesaving missions.'
The Intercept
20-05-2025
- Politics
- The Intercept
The Questionable Case of Kristi Noem's $50 Million Luxury Jet
Kristi Noem, President Donald Trump's secretary of Homeland Security, came under fire last week for her department's eleventh-hour request for a new luxury jet: $50 million for a Gulfstream 5 for Noem's personal use, paid for out of the budget of the Coast Guard. The Department of Homeland Security responded to the denunciations with a stirring defense. 'The current CG-101 G550 is over twenty years old, outside of Gulfstream's service life, and well beyond operational usage hours for a corporate aircraft. This is a matter of safety,' DHS assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin told The Intercept. 'Much like the Coast Guard's ships that are well beyond their service life and safe operational usage, Coast Guard's aircraft are too.' Experts say that McLaughlin is right. The Coast Guard — which is a part the Department of Homeland Security — needs new ships and planes. But the proposed budget already earmarked more than $500 million to upgrade the service's aging air fleet. Experts and members of Congress are left questioning why DHS would prioritize buying a luxury plane for a Cabinet secretary seemingly obsessed with traveling far and wide for photo ops, from New York City to El Salvador, over the aircraft needed for core Coast Guard duties. 'The Secretary's plane isn't the only Coast Guard asset operating past its prime, and yet hers is the Department's number one priority for replacement,' Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., told The Intercept, after blasting Noem's desire for a 'tricked out' new plane for her 'personal national photo op tour.' He added, 'A Trump Cabinet official putting themselves before the people they serve is par for the course.' DHS failed to reply to a request for information about when and how the decision was made to replace the jet, who was behind the decision, and why the Gulfstream 5 was chosen 'On its face, there's nothing wrong with DHS buying a replacement for a 20-year-old plane per se, and it makes sense to fund replacements like this through the Coast Guard because they know how to buy planes. But this last-minute spending shift raises questions,' said Steve Ellis, president of the nonpartisan budget watchdog Taxpayers for Common Sense and a former Coast Guard officer. 'Was this a planned replacement for an aircraft at the end of its lifecycle, or was this a top-down decision to get Secretary Noem a fancy new jet ahead of schedule? The Coast Guard has a lot of aging equipment and money spent on an executive jet isn't available for other asset needs. It's a question of priorities.' The Coast Guard's 50,000 active-duty and auxiliary personnel are currently without a commandant after Adm. Linda L. Fagan, the first female commandant of the service, was fired by the Trump administration earlier this year. A hiring freeze at DHS has exacerbated long-standing staffing issues at the Coast Guard. A 2024 Government Accountability Office report found, for example, that close to 10 percent of its authorized military aviation workforce positions were vacant as of July 2023. Last month, a group of senators requested that Noem and others prioritize funding of the Coast Guard's recruitment and retention initiatives to make up a 3,000-person deficiency in enlisted personnel. 'In 2023, because of this personnel shortage, the Coast Guard experienced unpredictable interruptions in vital operations involving essential search and rescue and law enforcement missions,' they wrote. 'In 2024, the service was forced to make temporary, undesirable nation-wide changes to its operational posture to prevent the continued decline of its operational capacity and to ensure the safety and security of our constituents in the maritime domain.' DHS failed to supply data on just how many Coast Guard ships and planes are — as McLaughlin said — 'well beyond their service life and safe operational usage.' But last year's GAO report found that the Coast Guard's aircraft generally did not meet the service's 71 percent availability target from 2018 through 2022. The Coast Guard had, as of January 2024, four programs underway to modernize its aircraft, at an estimated cost of $105.6 billion, according to GAO. The Coast Guard also has 259 cutters and around 1,600 smaller boats, according to the service's website. Questioned by the House Appropriations Committee last week, the Coast Guard's acting commandant, Adm. Kevin Lunday, sidestepped questions about whether he was contacted by Noem or other Trump administration officials concerning the jet. Lunday did insist the Gulfstream 5 had legitimate uses and likened the current CG-101 G550 to the rest of the service's aging planes and ships. 'Like a lot of the rest of our operational aviation fleet and our cutters and our boats and our shore facilities, it's old, and it's approaching obsolescence and the end of its service life,' he testified. 'We're continually hampered by pressure for sustaining and operating our assets, our boats and our ships … we're not able to maintain them at the rate we need to, and so they're not always as available as we need them to be when a mission demand occurs or an operational case is detected.' The proposed budget — actually a reconciliation bill, formally titled 'The One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act' — allocates the bulk of new Coast Guard spending into acquiring new icebreaker ships. The U.S. currently has one heavy icebreaker called the Polar Star, which was built in the 1970s; a medium icebreaker, the Healy; and a light icebreaker, the Storis. Roger Wicker, the Republican senator from Mississippi who heads the Senate Armed Services Committee, has been pushing to expand the icebreaker fleet for years, writing in 2022 that 'the moment demands that we unleash the full might of our defense industrial base to secure our foothold in the arctic.' Trump has promised an entire fleet of icebreakers. 'We're going to order about 40 Coast Guard big icebreakers. Big ones. And all of a sudden, Canada wants a piece of the deal. I say, 'Why are we doing that?' I mean, I like doing that if they're a state, but I don't like doing that if they're a nation,' Trump said in a speech in North Carolina on January 24. In March, Trump upped the number, saying the U.S. was 'in the process of ordering 48 icebreakers,' again followed by a reference to Canada becoming a state. DHS only recently approved construction of one new polar security cutter for the U.S. Coast Guard, to be built by Bollinger Shipyards in Pascagoula, Mississippi. It will be the first heavy polar icebreaker to be built in the U.S. in about 50 years. 'The U.S. icebreaker fleet is in sad shape. It's a critical program that U.S. shipbuilders have struggled with,' said Taxpayers for Common Sense's Ellis. 'The Coast Guard should be looking at all options, including cost-effective acquisition of heavy icebreakers from the world's leading icebreaker builder: Finland.'
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Noem eyes $50M for new DHS jet
President Trump isn't the only administration official eyeing a new jet: Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is also set to get one under a last-minute addition to the Coast Guard budget. Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-Ill.), the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, blasted the agency for the $50 million line item that 'had never been requested or even mentioned before.' 'I was horrified last Friday when we received a last minute addition to your spend plan for fiscal '25, a new $50 million Gulfstream 5 for Secretary Noem's personal travel coming from the Coast Guard budget. She already has a Gulfstream 5, by the way, this is a new one,' Underwood said during a Wednesday hearing. The Department of Homeland Security has defended the request. 'The current CG-101 G550 is over twenty years old, outside of Gulfstream's service life, and well beyond operational usage hours for a corporate aircraft,' Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs, said in a statement. 'This is a matter of safety. Much like the Coast Guard's ships that are well beyond their service life and safe operational usage, Coast Guard's aircraft are too,' she added. 'This Administration is taking action to restore our Nation's finest maritime Armed Service to a capable fighting force.' Coast Guard Adm. Kevin Lunday did not respond to a direct question from Underwood about whether he had been asked by higher ups at the DHS to add a request for the plane, but he did defend the need for it. 'It's old, and it's approaching obsolescence and the end of its service life, the avionics are increasingly obsolete, the communications are increasingly unreliable, and it's in need of recapitalization, like much of the rest of the fleet,' he said. 'But this aircraft is necessary to provide the secretary, the deputy secretary, me as the acting commandant, the acting vice and our two area commanders with secure, reliable on demand communications and movement,' he continued. Funding for a plane for Noem comes after Trump said he plans to accept a $400 million jet paid for by Qatar to serve as Air Force One, after which he plans to retain use of the jet by transferring it to his presidential library. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
15-05-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Noem eyes $50M for new DHS jet
President Trump isn't the only administration official eyeing a new jet: Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is also set to get one under a last-minute addition to the Coast Guard budget. Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-Ill.), the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, blasted the agency for the $50 million line item that 'had never been requested or even mentioned before.' 'I was horrified last Friday when we received a last minute addition to your spend plan for Fiscal 25, a new $50 million Gulfstream 5 for Secretary Noem's personal travel coming from the Coast Guard budget. She already has a Gulfstream 5, by the way, this is a new one,' Underwood said during a Wednesday hearing. The Department of Homeland Security has defended the request. 'The current CG-101 G550 is over twenty years old, outside of Gulfstream's service life, and well beyond operational usage hours for a corporate aircraft,' Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs, said in a statement. 'This is a matter of safety. Much like the Coast Guard's ships that are well beyond their service life and safe operational usage, Coast Guard's aircraft are too,' she added. 'This Administration is taking action to restore our Nation's finest maritime Armed Service to a capable fighting force.' Coast Guard Admiral Kevin Lunday did not respond to a direct question from Underwood about whether he had been asked by higher ups at DHS to add a request for the plane, but he did defend the need for it. 'It's old, and it's approaching obsolescence and the end of its service life, the avionics are increasingly obsolete, the communications are increasingly unreliable, and it's in need of recapitalization, like much of the rest of the fleet,' he said. 'But this aircraft is necessary to provide the secretary, the deputy secretary, me as the acting commandant, the acting vice and our two area commanders with secure, reliable on demand communications and movement,' he continued. Funding for a plane for Noem comes after Trump said he plans to accept a $400 million jet paid for by Qatar to serve as Air Force One, after which he plans to retain use of the jet by transferring it to his presidential library.
Yomiuri Shimbun
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Trump Wants a New Plane. Now, So Does Homeland Security Secretary Noem.
Tom Brenner/For The Washington Post Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem testifies before the House Appropriations subcommittee on homeland security on May 6. President Donald Trump is not the only one in his administration seeking a new plane. The Department of Homeland Security is planning on a new Gulfstream V, an agency official confirmed Wednesday, after the anticipated acquisition spilled into public view during a congressional oversight hearing. Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-Illinois) questioned the spending plan during a House Appropriations Committee hearing on the U.S. Coast Guard and in a social media post, contending that the aircraft would be primarily used by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem. Underwood said the funding, which she placed at $50 million, would be taken from the budget of the Coast Guard, which is overseen by the DHS. 'She already has a Gulfstream 5, by the way, but she wants a new one paid for with your taxpayer dollars,' Underwood wrote on X. Referring to the Coast Guard, Underwood added: 'We should be investing in our national security and improving the lives of our Coasties – not wasting taxpayer dollars on luxury travel and political stunts.' At the hearing, Underwood asked Adm. Kevin Lunday, acting Coast Guard commandant, whether he had received any communication from his DHS superiors about a new plane for Noem. He did not directly answer the question, saying that the Coast Guard has two long-range military command and control aircraft. Lunday described the Coast Guard's aircraft fleet as aging and said Noem's plane is 'approaching obsolescence.' Such aircraft are necessary for top DHS and Coast Guard officials, he said, to ensure reliable communications and travel plans. Tricia McLaughlin, an assistant DHS secretary, defended the planned Gulfstream acquisition, saying the agency's aircraft are 'well beyond their service life and safe operational usage.' In a statement, she said the current Gulfstream is more than 20 years old, making it 'well beyond operational usage hours for a corporate aircraft.' The Coast Guard has generally kept two Gulfstream jets in service for use both by admirals and senior civilian officials at DHS. Its older executive jet, a C-37A, is based on the Gulfstream V model and began flying with the Coast Guard in 2002, according to government records. The military service ordered a new executive jet, the Gulfstream 550, in 2020 at a cost of about $66 million and began using it two years later, officials said at the time. It's designated a C-37B. The request for a new executive jet comes after years of the Coast Guard raising concerns about the age of its search-and-rescue planes, helicopters, and other equipment. Many of them were first put into use in the 1980s and 1990s, the independent Government Accountability Office found last year. The disclosure of the DHS's interest in a new jet comes as Trump has been advocating for a pair of new aircraft to act as Air Force One, the designation given to specially equipped and fortified jets that ferry the president. Trump has been seeking a new model from Boeing since his first term, but production delays have set back the expected delivery time, prompting criticism from the president. This week, Trump has faced criticism from Democrats for saying he plans to accept a $400 million Boeing 747-8 as a gift from the government of Qatar. During a visit to the Middle East, the president said he would use the plane for a 'couple of years' while he waits for a pair of Boeing planes to be completed. Ethics experts have raised concerns that such a donation from a foreign government would be unconstitutional, violating the emoluments clause, which forbids U.S. officials to accept gifts or other things of value from foreign officials without congressional approval.
