Rick Scott holding Coast Guard promotions over issue with shipbuilder

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) is holding up hundreds of Coast Guard promotions over an issue with Eastern Shipbuilding Group, a Florida shipbuilder.

In a statement to The Hill on Wednesday, Scott said he has questions about what happened with contracts with the company since President Trump took office and “they haven’t been answered yet.” 

Eastern Shipbuilding Group, based in Panama City, in 2016 won a multibillion-dollar deal with the Coast Guard to deliver four new Offshore Patrol Cutters (OPC). 

But the company, which was supposed to deliver the first such ship in June 2023, hit several snags in production. Then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem last year decided to cut the order from four down to two vessels, citing “failing to meet delivery agreements.”

“An existing Offshore Patrol Cutter (OPC) contract with Eastern Shipbuilding Group (ESG) has been slow to deliver four OPCs, harming the U.S.’s defense capabilities and wasting American’s hard-earned money,” Noem said in July.

That was followed by ESG announcing in November it would stop work on the two remaining ships “due to significant financial strain caused by the program’s structure and conditions.”

But Scott insists the Coast Guard needs the ships and that they are almost completed. 

“This is about accountability; the American people need to know how and why their money is being spent and they deserve that honesty from their government,” he said. 

He added that he’s “been speaking with all parties on this issue in good faith, and I will keep having those conversations to make sure we can get clarity and come to a resolution.”

Scott’s hold on the Coast Guard promotions, first reported by Politico, means the Senate can’t easily vote them through unanimously. Instead, Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) would need to set up roll call votes on individual promotions, a time-consuming process that could tie up the Senate floor for months.

Such a blockade was used by Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) in 2023, when he attempted to force a change to the Pentagon’s abortion policy by holding up hundreds of military nominations and promotions.

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