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.
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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.”
Brittany told Task & Purpose for a previous story that her husband has had to pay $1,400 for graduate school because his Tuition Assistance – an education benefit for military personnel – was abruptly cut off due to the shutdown. She also said her family expected to have to use money from their savings to pay for their upcoming move in June.
On Thursday, Brittany said she assumes the Coast Guard will cover moving costs, but she worried about delays under a backlog of Coast Guard families who have requested the allowances.
She was unsure if her family would see any refund on the tuition payments.
“I imagine over the next few days this will become more clear,” Brittany said.
Another Coast Guard spouse, who asked not to be identified, said they will not consider the shutdown to be officially over until the bill to fund the Coast Guard reaches President Donald Trump’s desk.
“But if it does pass and funding is restored, it will not ease our burdens,” the spouse told Task & Purpose on Thursday. “Given the enormous backlog of claims and funding requests for families that transferred last year, I believe that it will be months before things go back to normal.”
The funding deal appeared to approve funds for all of the Department of Homeland Security except for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin posted on social media on Thursday afternoon that the rest of the department will be funded through budget reconciliation, an expedited Congressional process.
“To our great, patriotic employees who have continued to protect the homeland every single day without a guaranteed paycheck—thank you,” Mullin wrote on X.
