Coast Guard Museum fundraising to receive $50 million boost
New London — Congress this week will vote on a massive $1.5 trillion government spending package that includes $50 million toward construction of the National Coast Guard Museum in New London.
Sen. Chris Murphy, who announced the news Wednesday, said in a statement that the $50 million, and removal of a prohibition of federal funds being used for construction costs, represented “a breakthrough for the Coast Guard, for New London and southeastern Connecticut.”
Murphy is the chairman of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, and had pushed for the funding with support from Sen. Richard Blumenthal, U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, and U.S Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd District, Chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee.
“After years of plans and proposals, hopes and expectations, the Coast Guard Museum is going to be built with construction to begin next year,” Murphy said in a statement.
“This project will not only create hundreds of jobs and annually pump millions into the local economy, but also inspire the next generation to serve. The Coast Guard is the only long-standing branch of the armed services without a national museum. We owe it to the brave men and women of the Coast Guard — past, present and future — to finally make the museum a reality, and today is a tremendous step toward fulfilling that commitment,” he said.
The news comes just days after retired U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Wes Pulver, president of the National Coast Guard Museum Association, provided an update on the progress of the museum to city officials. Preliminary construction work at City Pier Plaza will start this summer if permits are in place, he has said.
“The funding proposed for the National Coast Guard Museum in the 2022 federal budget is a game changer,” Pulver said in a statement Wednesday. “With this extraordinary support championed by Senator Murphy and the Connecticut delegation, we plan to break ground this summer. We celebrate all that this means for our Nation, the region, and for our Coast Guard.”
The omnibus spending package to be taken up this week by Congress consists of 12 fiscal year 2022 appropriations bills and supplemental funding to support Ukraine and COVID-19 management. The bills included in the omnibus provide $730 billion in nondefense funding, a 6.7% increase over fiscal year 2021. The bills provides $782 billion in defense funding, a 5.6% increase.
The $50 million for the Coast Guard Museum is included in the fiscal year 2022 Homeland Security bill.
“This grant is going to go a long way to turbocharging construction,” Courtney said Wednesday. He said it’s been 15 years since Congress made the decision to locate the museum in New London.
“It’s definitely time to move on this,” he said.
Courtney, who said he intended to vote in favor of the spending package later on Wednesday, expects the funding boost will stimulate more attention and potentially more private donations.
There has been $20 million in federal funds appropriated to the museum in prior years for things related to the museum exhibits but not toward actual construction costs.
The spending package was expected to be taken up by the House on Wednesday and the Senate later this week.
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