The U.S. Coast Guard is moving toward an operational crisis as emergency funding runs dry during the Department of Homeland Security shutdown, now in its 75th day, the longest in U.S. history.
More than 6,000 unpaid utility bills have left Coast Guard operational units and military housing across the country facing shutoffs of electricity, water, and natural gas.
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“It’s unacceptable,” Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Kevin Lunday told CBS News, warning that infrastructure across the service is beginning to fail. “I think the American people would be furious to know this is happening,” he said.
Behind the scenes, the financial strain is rippling through the Coast Guard’s ranks. Service members preparing for summer relocations are racking up credit card debt as funding lapses limit advance travel pay. Others are postponing medical appointments because they can’t afford out-of-pocket costs.
“It seems like a horror movie, but it’s actually happening,” Lunday said. “It’s almost unbelievable.”
While active-duty personnel have continued receiving paychecks due to temporary funding adjustments, that support will likely end soon. Emergency funding expires May 1, and the first missed paychecks could come as soon as May 15.
The situation has already taken a toll on the civilian workforce. Nearly 10,000 Coast Guard civilian employees went without full pay from mid-February until early April, when President Donald Trump signed an emergency order restoring their compensation.
Still, morale remains fragile.
“Our total workforce has spent a majority of this fiscal year operating under uncertainty, fear, and anger caused by a lapse of appropriations,” Chief Petty Officer Phil Waldron told lawmakers during a Tuesday budget hearing. “The dangerous missions that our folks conduct every day … require their complete and total focus. That focus is dangerously fractured when they’re worried about paying their rent or supporting their families.”
Lawmakers are calling for an immediate vote on the DHS funding bill.
“The fastest way to ensure Secret Service, Coast Guard, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Transportation Security Administration, and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency personnel are paid is for the Speaker to stop playing games and put the Senate bill on the House floor,” Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) wrote in a letter to her colleagues on Tuesday.
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The partial shutdown began on Feb. 14 after Congress failed to reach an agreement on funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement after two people were shot in Minnesota by ICE agents. The Coast Guard, unlike the other military branches, which are funded through the Department of War, falls under DHS management.
“The reality today is the Coast Guard is operating in a crisis,” Lunday said. “This is taking on our people and their families, the severe hardship and uncertainty, not knowing whether they’ll be paid after this week.”
