President Trump to Give Keynote Address at Coast Guard Academy Graduation

Coast Guard Commencement 2016. DoD Photo

President Donald Trump will give the commencement address at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy’s graduation ceremony next month in new London, Connecticut.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer announced Trump’s participation in the May 17 ceremony during a daily briefing on Wednesday.

Back in March President Trump was initially planning to propose cutting the Coast Guard’s 2018 annual budget by $1.3 billion, or about 12%, despite an overall boost in military spending. After an outcry from lawmakers, ultimately the cuts did not make it into the Administration’s 2018 “budget blueprint” that it submitted to Congress a week later. Details from the DoD said only that the plan “sustains current funding levels for the U.S. Coast Guard”. A comprehensive budget request for FY 2018 will be delivered in Congress in May.

Local newspaper The Day said it was rumored that Trump would be keynote speaker as he is expected to be out of the country when the other service academies graduate, and each year the President typically addresses the graduating class at one of the federal service academies on a rotating basis.