Congress restores Coast Guard funding after 76-day partial shutdown

Congress has cleared the way for the Coast Guard to be funded again after the House of Representatives approved a spending bill on Thursday for most of the Department of Homeland Security. The move should restore paychecks to nearly 10,000 civilian employees of the service, and reopen a wide range of benefits for Coast Guard members, from moving expenses to college tuition plans.

The move comes after a 76-day funding fight that has been a grueling experience for members of the Coast Guard and their families. Although Coast Guardsmen have been paid throughout the shutdown, the service’s roughly 9,800 civilian employees went unpaid for more than six weeks.

Conditions on Coast Guard bases were beginning to be dire, according to Coast Guard Commandant Adm Kevin Lunday. In an interview with CBS, the service’s senior officer said that water, natural gas, and electricity for installations and homes were starting to be shut off because the Coast Guard had been unable to pay utility bills.

The shutdown has taken a financial and mental toll on Coast Guardsmen and their families, who have faced the uncertainty of whether the service could still afford to pay its personnel while also having to pay out-of-pocket expenses normally covered by the Coast Guard.

“I know we would never get an apology, but one could hope for one,” said Brittany, a Coast Guard spouse who asked to be identified by her first name only. “In all honesty, I think a verbal apology is the least they owe this department.”

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Source: Task & Purpose
Website: taskandpurpose.com