Coast Guard members’ pay affected by shutdown
While most U.S. Coast Guard members managed to get their final 2018 paycheck after some maneuvering by the White House and the Department of Homeland Security, their first check of the New Year was put into doubt in the shadow of the partial government shutdown affecting more than a quarter of the federal workforce.
Funding for the service, which has a heavy presence in South Florida and the Keys, expired Dec. 21 with no appropriations bill passed to keep boats afloat, planes and helicopters in the air and men and women on patrol through 2019.
Unlike the rest of the military branches, which fall under the Department of Defense and are not affected by the shutdown, the Coast Guard is under Homeland Security, which is among the agencies caught up in the fight over President Donald Trump’s proposed multi-billion dollar wall along the U.S.Mexico border.
Trump and congressional Democrats won’t blink in budget negotiations over funding for the controversial project. The partial government shutdown is affecting 800,000 federal employees, and having an impact on air travel, the National Parks Service, the federal courts and hurricane forecasting, among many other areas.
The nearly 42,000 active duty Coast Guard members are considered essential personnel and will have to work with or without pay.
“Whether they are performing rescues during a hurricane or stopping drug traffickers at sea, members of the Coast Guard regularly perform heroic and lifesaving tasks on our behalf. They should not have to worry about bills and living expenses just because Congress and the White House cannot agree on a budget,” Brett P. Reistad, national commander of the American Legion veterans advocacy group, said in a statement this week.
Reistad urged members of Congress to support a bipartisan bill introduced by Sen. John Thune, RSouth Dakota, that would fund the Coast Guard through the Treasury Department throughout the shutdown.
On Wednesday, Rep. Peter De Fazio, D-Oregon, chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, introduced the “Pay Our Coast Guard Parity Act,” mirroring the Thune bill.
The next pay period ends Tuesday.
Service members are organizing support networks in the event no solution is found, said Casey Lawrence, national president of the Coast Guard Enlisted Association.
“Our national officers have been posting financial resources available to those who need it, in the event of a pay lapse, on our Coast Guard Enlisted Association national Facebook page,” Lawrence said in an email Tuesday.
He said resources include loans from the Coast Guard Mutual Assistance program, low-interest loans from other institutions, “as well as community resources available, such as free groceries and help with utility bills.”
“I have also asked that our branches with available funds to do so, assist members in immediate need through loans and grants, if the lapse occurs,” Lawrence said.