Here is an overview of the Navy Department’s FY2015 budget request: http://www.finance.hq.navy.mil/FMB/15pres/DON_PB15_Press_Brief.pdf A much shorter summary of the Coast Guard’s FY2015 budget proposal can be found here: http://www.fiercehomelandsecurity.com/story/papp-budget-falloff-results-smaller-coast-guard/2014-03-12
The Navy Department’s FY2015 budget authorizes 698,259 positions (323,600 Navy, 182,700 Marines, and 191,959 civilians). The Navy’s budget is down, but it is still $148B. Its equivalent of the Coast Guard’s AC&I budget (Procurement plus Infrastructure) is $39.9B.
By comparison the Coast Guard budget request includes 49,093 positions, a total budget of $9.8B, and $1.08B for AC&I.
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In terms of personnel the Coast Guard is roughly 7% or one fourteenth the size of the Navy Department (and about one eighth the size of the Navy itself). If its budget were proportional, the Coast Guard would have an AC&I budget of $2.81B and a total budget of $10.41B.
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There is not much difference in the per capita budget overall, but the difference in investment is huge. An equivalent AC&I budget would be 160% greater than the current request. (The difference in the R&D budgets are even more significant.)
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As similar organizations, I think this is a clear justification, of the Commandant’s assertion, that the Coast Guard really needs an AC&I budget of $2.5B to get healthy. If anything, after years of underfunding, it needs more.
