WASHINGTON – After President Trump proposed to eliminate the National Sea Grant College Program from his FY 2018 budget, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, led a bipartisan group of 25 other senators in calling for the program to be funded – at a minimum – at its current funding level. In a letter to Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) and Ranking Member Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.J.) of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies, Murphy and the other senators emphasized that the National Sea Grant College Program provides vital supports to local businesses and is a crucial resource in efforts preserve coastal communities.

“We urge you to reject the administration’s proposed elimination of the National Sea Grant College Program… [and] continue to support at least the current funding level of $63 million,” wrote the bipartisan group of senators. “As senators from some of the 33 states with Sea Grant Programs, we see firsthand how this federal investment is leveraged locally to bring immense returns to coastal communities, fishermen, universities, and students. Any cuts to this funding would have a devastating impact and we strongly urge you to reject any proposals to reduce this program.”

The National Sea Grant College Program is a critical source of funding for Connecticut’s Sea Grant Colleges program at UCONN Avery Point. Murphy called on President Trump last month to reconsider his proposed elimination of the Sea Grant program, and vowed to fight against any cuts to the program. Murphy successfully fought to secure funding for the program in this year’s FY 2017 budget.

U.S. Senators Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Tom Carper (D-Del.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Angus King (I-Maine), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Cali.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) joined Murphy in signing the letter.

Full text of the letter is available online and below:

The Honorable Richard Shelby                                                    The Honorable Jeanne Shaheen
Chairman                                                                                  Ranking Member
Commerce, Justice, Science and                                                  Commerce, Justice, Science and
Related Agencies Subcommittee                                                  Related Agencies Subcommittee
Senate Appropriations Committee                                               Senate Appropriations Committee
Washington, DC  20510                                                             Washington, DC  20510 

Dear Chairman Shelby and Ranking Member Shaheen:

As you work to draft the Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, we urge you to reject the administration’s proposed elimination of the National Sea Grant College Program. We continue to support at least the current funding level of $63 million. 

As senators from some of the 33 states with Sea Grant Programs, we see firsthand how this federal investment is leveraged locally to bring immense returns to coastal communities, fishermen, universities, and students.  Any cuts to this funding would have a devastating impact and we strongly urge you to reject any proposals to reduce this program.

The National Sea Grant College Program is a federal-local partnership that funds 33 university-based research, extension, and education centers. The federal investment of $67.3 million in FY 2015 in these centers yielded $575 million in economic benefit, an 854 percent return on federal investment. This economic impact includes creating and sustaining nearly 3,000 local businesses and more than 20,000 jobs. Marine businesses and fishermen in coastal communities rely on the knowledge and skills of Sea Grant staff and outreach materials. This is evidenced by the 40,243 fishermen that Sea Grant helped to adopt sustainable harvesting techniques. Sea Grant has also helped train 1,956 professionals working in the seafood processing industry in hazard analysis and critical control points.

In addition to supporting businesses and jobs in local communities across the country, Sea Grant programs provide innovative research and technologies to help local communities meet new challenges such as coastal resiliency and address long-term goals like habitat restoration or water quality monitoring. In the past year alone, Sea Grant programs conducted 896 trainings to help communities improve resiliency, restored 127,348 acres of degraded ecosystems, and developed 582 ecosystem-based management tools used by 4,033 resource managers.

Finally, Sea Grant programs across the country are helping educate the next generation of marine scientists by supporting 1,108 graduate fellows and 860 undergraduate students. Sea Grant programs also engage the public in science through a volunteer program. As a part of this program, local volunteers completed 265,602 volunteer hours with Sea Grant programs in 2015.

 Sea Grant Programs are vital to local businesses, a source of good jobs, and an important part of preserving our coastal communities for generations to come. We believe zeroing out or reducing funding for the Sea Grant program would be a mistake and urge you to provide robust support for the program in the Fiscal Year 2018 bill.

 Sincerely, 

Christopher S. Murphy                                                                    Bill Cassidy M.D.
Jeffery A. Merkley                                                                           Susan M. Collins
Cory A. Booker                                                                               Tom Carper
Edward J. Markey                                                                           Angus S. King Jr.
Elizabeth Warren                                                                            Ron Wyden
Sherrod Brown                                                                               Sheldon Whitehouse
Richard Blumenthal                                                                        Amy Klobuchar
Maria Cantwell                                                                               Margaret Wood Hassan
Dianne Feinstein                                                                             Tim Kaine
Al Franken                                                                                     Gary C. Peters
Chris Van Hollen                                                                             Debbie Stabenow
Christopher A. Coons                                                                      Bernard Sanders
Benjamin L. Cardin                                                                         Tammy Baldwin

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