Story highlights Administration might cut $9 million Coast Guard budget by $1.3 million

California Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter called the slash "nonsensical" Wednesday

(CNN) Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter called a proposal from President Donald Trump's administration to slash the US Coast Guard's budget by $1.3 billion "nonsensical" Wednesday.

Speaking on CNN's "At This Hour" with Kate Bolduan, the California congressman argued the proposed cuts -- part of the administration's tentative budget for fiscal year 2018 -- would cripple the agency's "shoestring budget."

"The entire operating budget of the US Coast Guard is $9 billion," Hunter said. "It's a shoestring budget."

This isn't the first time Hunter -- one of Trump's earliest supporters -- has spoken out against the planned cuts. In a letter to the President , the lawmaker wrote Thursday that the Office of Management and Budget's proposed reductions "would not only diminish the Coast Guard's standing and mission," but "severely undermine US national security."

"You have President Trump talking about national security, criminal networks," Hunter said. "That's what the Coast Guard does, literally. ... It just doesn't make sense."

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