The USCG has been trying to dump E-Loran for years.

the cost to keep this 'backup' system running is roughly equal to 3x the expected cost-cutting Pres. Obama required of his Cabinet in their first meeting.

Short story here - hurry up and get GPS back on track, the world is waiting (and Russia and Europe will be happy to complete the constellation if our Defense Dept. can't get the job done) and spend the ridiculously small amount of money required to keep e-LORAN functioning.

If LORAN does get funded, and it should, the operations should be moved to DHS's Infrastructure Protection branch, so the system can be managed effectively. take it away from USCG, they haven't wanted it for years.

This is inside-the-beltway budget politics at its finest; a classic Washington story.

The USCG doesn't want the program as long as they have to pay for it, but would be more than happy to operate the system as an experienced agent if their DHS masters picked up the tab. But there's no WAY they can say that publicly.

The DHS infrastructure group, which made a play to take over the system some years ago, is now backpedalling furiously because they've (apparently) seen the magnitude of the completion costs. There's towers still to be built for the signal to come on line, and they can be expensive.

So eLoran becomes a budget football and gets kicked from one foster home to another.

There's another, more insidious, side to this - some Federal programs become "cost avoidance queens" and are kept on life support because they're so very useful to their 'owners' as cover in the budget negotiations process.

"I'm going to cut this program and demonstrate how frugal I am!"

"...Wait, didn't you say that last year? Are you really cutting a program or just talking about cutting it to cover the fact you're not cutting something you'd like keep somewhere else?"

"Gosh golly gee we've tried but there's a vocal minority who keeps stopping us from doing our fiduciary duties! Please help us kill this thing so we can save the taxpayers money!"

And so the story goes, one budget cycle after another. The eLoran is every good govie's very best friend, a homeless stray that can be beaten unmercifully every year, yet rises again to serve the same master (or another) the next cycle. If the DHS folks had their way, eLoran will live on zombie-like to cover lack of real economizing elesewhere.

The best revenge on this would be to really fund the program and send a clear signal to industry that the Gov't is in it for the long haul. Once that happens manufacturers will jump to add eLoran capability to their navigation and e911 devices and improve the confidence of the positioning solution in buildings, under trees, in cities, etc.

This is a classic Washington story. Watch this space; we'll probably see it drag on for another year...