House Passes Bipartisan Peltola-led bill adding the Coast Guard Commandant to the Defense Joint Chiefs of Staff

On June 14, 2024, the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed Alaska Representative Mary Sattler Peltola’s bipartisan bill elevating the Commandant of the Coast Guard to the U.S. Department of Defense’s Joint Chiefs of Staff as an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

The Joint Chiefs of Staff are the most senior uniformed leaders within the U.S. Department of Defense, advising the President, Secretary of Defense, and Homeland Security and National Security Councils on all military matters. Under current law, the Joint Chiefs of Staff are the chiefs from the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and the National Guard.

“As the mother to two Coasties, I know how much our Coast Guard sacrifices for our national security, especially in Alaska and the Pacific,” said Representative Peltola. “This important branch deserves an equal seat at the table.”

Unique among the other armed service branches, the U.S. Coast Guard operates with dual legal authorities under both the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense, depending on whether the Coast Guard is engaging in domestic law enforcement or support for national defense.

Representative Peltola’s bipartisan bill passed last week will update the membership of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to recognize the Coast Guard increasingly important role in the United State’s national defense and advising presidents of both parties on matters of national security.

Representative John Garamendi, a senior member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation and the former Ranking Member from 2013 to 2018, has been working with Representative Peltola and their Republican colleagues to ensure that those serving in Coast Guard get the respect and resources they deserve.

“For decades, Congress and presidents of both parties have asked the Coast Guard to do more and more, often with less and less. This must change. From ensuring freedom of navigation on the high seas by patrolling the Taiwan Strait, combatting drug smuggling in the Caribbean, or fighting piracy in the Persian Gulf and Red Sea, the Coast Guard’s work is more important and challenging than ever,” said Representative Garamendi. “Our bipartisan amendment to this year’s National Defense Authorization Act ensures that the Commandant of the Coast Guard has a seat on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to provide the best possible military advice to the Commander in Chief and Secretary of Defense,"

In the House, Representative Peltola serves on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure’s Subcommittee Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation, which has jurisdiction over the U.S. Coast Guard. Her bipartisan bill passed by the House builds upon bipartisan work by former Representative Scott R. Tipton of Colorado in 2018 and former Representative Charlie Crist from Florida in 2021.