Senate fails to advance to a vote on funding for the Department of Homeland Security, raising the prospect that Coast Guard personnel will miss paychecks on Friday
The Senate on Tuesday again failed to advance to a vote on funding for the Department of Homeland Security, raising the prospect that Coast Guard personnel will miss paychecks on Friday.
The failed procedural vote came as Democrats and the White House remained deadlocked over Democrats’ demands for new restrictions on immigration agents. The impasse appeared unlikely to be resolved before the next scheduled payday for the Coast Guard’s 41,000 uniformed members.
Funding for the department, which oversees the Coast Guard in peacetime, lapsed on Feb. 14 for the second time in less than six months. During last fall’s 43-day governmentwide shutdown, the Trump administration tapped into funds from a sprawling Republican spending bill passed last year to keep the Coast Guard’s active-duty personnel paid.
More than a dozen House Republicans representing districts with a significant Coast Guard presence asked President Donald Trump in a letter on Friday to take similar action to protect pay for service members again.
“On behalf of the constituents we represent, many of whom serve in or directly support the Coast Guard, we respectfully urge you to once again use every authority at your disposal to ensure that these dedicated service members do not miss a paycheck,” they wrote.
Vice Adm. Thomas Allan, the vice commandant of the Coast Guard, warned lawmakers this month that interruptions in pay harm service member morale and negatively impact readiness.
“Missed pay erodes the trust our men and women have in the nation they serve and those who lead them,” he said. It also affects the Coast Guard’s ability to recruit and retain members, Allan said, at a time when the service is struggling with staffing shortfalls and workforce planning, according to the Government Accountability Office.
The Coast Guard’s most vital missions, including its search and rescue operations as well as national security work alongside Defense Department personnel such as drug interdictions, are continuing during the shutdown.
But other activities have been halted. Routine patrols, some enforcement of fisheries laws, commercial vessel safety inspections and other work that does not protect the safety of life or property from imminent danger stops during shutdowns. Training for pilots, aircrews and boat crews is also paused, and maintenance is deferred for cutters, aircraft and boats.
“This results in grounded aircraft, static cutters, and a multimillion-dollar parts backlog that can take time to fix,” Allan said.
Coast Guard personnel last missed paychecks during a funding fight in December 2018, which shuttered the Department of Homeland Security for 35 days. That shutdown forced some families to rely on food banks and led to a law making federal employees eligible for back pay once a shutdown ends.
- Security