WASHINGTON _ Democrats are pushing for Coast Guard icebreaker ships to be included in a funding bill that must be completed by Dec. 7 to avoid a partial government shutdown. But the move _ largely aimed at countering Russian influence in the Arctic _ is complicating negotiations already mired in debate over spending for President Donald Trump's border wall.
The party wants $750 million to expand the Coast Guard's small fleet of ships in the Arctic, where Russia has made inroads in recent years as the U.S. moves at a glacial pace. The money would pay for a new polar icebreaker, a large ship used for scientific research, defense and _ as the name suggests _ to break apart sheets of ice, allowing other vessels to traverse Arctic pathways.
The Coast Guard employed more than half a dozen of the massive ships back in the 1970s, but is down to two operable ones assigned to the Arctic _ the Polar Star and the Healy, both of which have long-surpassed their 30-year service lives.
