LETTING OUR Coasties ‘stand ready’ despite being only
Always ready doesn’t mean always paid.
The Coast Guard’s 42,000 active-duty officers missed a check Tuesday — and became the only U.S. service members to work without pay as President Trump and Democrats remain at odds over a border wall.
“To the best of my knowledge, this marks the first time in our Nation’s history that service members in a U.S. Armed Force have not been paid during a lapse in appropriations,” tweeted Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Karl Schultz.
The Coast Guard is funded through the Department of Homeland Security, while other branches are backed by Department of Defense appropriations.
Officers continued to patrol the ports and waterways around New York Harbor and beyond despite the lack of cash.
Roughly 540 active-duty members are based in the New York City area, according to Petty Ofiicer 3rd Class Steve Strohmaier, a spokesman for Coast Guard units in the tristate area.
“All personnel and assets are at the ready,” he said. “We stand ready to answer the call of mariners and the American people working with or without pay.”
It’s unclear when those service members will be receiving their next paycheck as Trump refuses to sign any legislation reopening the government without $5.6 billion in funds for a wall along the border with Mexico. The political impasse over the wall has caused chaos for some families, as 800,000 federal employees have been furloughed without pay since the shutdown began Dec. 22.
Schoolteacher Blythe Aguayo said she was forced to skip regular dental cleanings for her four children this week because she’s unsure when her husband, a civilian Coast Guard employee, will be back to work.
“I have to decide whether we’re going to buy food or if we’ll have enough money for gas next week,” the 40-year-old mother said.
Aguayo’s husband has worked at the Coast Guard’s New York Station on Staten Island for 13 years, but the couple never thought they’d have to endure the financial instability of a prolonged government shutdown.
“When you become a federal employee they don’t tell you you might get furloughed,” she said. “This isn’t a construction job where you know you might be between jobs or work at some point.”
On top of the economic strain, Aguayo said it’s hard to watch others who are unaffected fight about the shutdown on social media.
“There’s this attitude that we deserve this,” she said. “These employees don’t want to stay home — they want to be working and getting paid. We didn’t vote for Trump. We don’t want the wall, this is not