Funding is set to run out Saturday unless Congress can agree on guardrails on federal immigration enforcement agents. A shutdown would shutter the department and, within it, the Coast Guard.
The vice commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard urged lawmakers on Wednesday to prevent a funding lapse for the Department of Homeland Security, warning that a partial government shutdown would halt paychecks and hurt morale.
Funding is set to run out Saturday unless Congress can agree on guardrails on federal immigration enforcement agents that Democrats are demanding in return for supporting funding for the department.
A shutdown would shutter the department and, within it, the Coast Guard. Vice Adm. Thomas Allan, vice commandant of the service, said the Coast Guard would continue its overseas work with the military and other critical missions, but it would cease some activities, defer maintenance and potentially interrupt pay for 56,000 active-duty, reserve and civilian personnel.
“This is not a distant administrative issue,” he said in testimony to the House Appropriations Committee. “The uncertainty of missing paychecks negatively impacts readiness and creates a significant financial hardship for service members and their families.”
Homeland Security Secretary Kristin Noem used funds from the Republican “One Big Beautiful Bill” to pay the Coast Guard’s nearly 45,000 active-duty personnel during last fall’s 43-day government shutdown, but it is unclear if officials would repeat that move this year.
“The Gunner’s Mate manning a weapon in the Strait of Hormuz should not have to worry if their family will be able to pay rent while being shadowed by Iranian vessels,” Allan said. “Our Aviation Survival Technician deploying from a helicopter into treacherous seas should not have to worry if their family can buy groceries.”
Coast Guard members worked without pay for more than a month from 2018 to 2019 during the last government shutdown that singularly affected the Department of Homeland Security, forcing some families to rely on food pantries. The shutdown led to a law making all federal employees eligible for back pay.
Allan said a shutdown of more than a few days would start to impact pay and harm morale, affecting the Coast Guard’s ability to recruit and retain at a time when the service struggles with staffing shortfalls and workforce planning, according to the Government Accountability Office.
It would also halt certain training for pilots, aircrews and boat crews, defer maintenance for cutters, aircraft and boats, and stop the flow of spare parts.
“This results in grounded aircraft, static cutters and a multimillion-dollar parts backlog that can takes time to fix,” Allan said.
While critical activities will continue, the Coast Guard would stop its routine patrols, some enforcement of illegal fishing and commercial vessel safety inspections. The issuance and renewal of credentials for merchant mariners would also pause.
“The ripple effects cause delays in vessel inspections, financing and regulatory approvals that can cost the U.S. economy billions of dollars every week and translates to higher prices for Americans everywhere,” Allan said.
Negotiations on a bipartisan deal to prevent a shutdown continued Wednesday as Democrats pushed for new restrictions on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal officers following the fatal shooting of a Minneapolis resident last month.
Uproar over the death forced the Senate to separate a full-year funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security from a larger spending measure signed into law last week that funds the Pentagon and other agencies through the remainder of the 2026 fiscal year.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, introduced legislation Wednesday to fund every non-immigration agency in Homeland Security, including the Coast Guard, but Republicans have dismissed the idea as unfeasible.
A shutdown appeared to be increasingly likely on Wednesday. Senate Democrats on Monday rejected a White House proposal as “incomplete and insufficient” and have expressed resistance to supporting a stopgap funding bill if an agreement cannot be reached in time.
Members of both parties plan to depart Thursday for a security conference in Munich. Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev., the chairman of the Homeland Security appropriations subcommittee, said he was anticipating a funding lapse, which would take effect after midnight on Friday.
“At this point, finalizing a bill before the 13th seems like a very tall order,” he said. “A shutdown has gone from a distinct possibility to a probability.”
- Legislative