Temporary relief available for Coast Guard personnel hurt by government shutdown

The U.S. Coast Guard’s official relief society, Coast Guard Mutual Assistance, is offering financial relief to Coast Guard families impacted by a lapse in funding for the Department of Homeland Security from the government shutdown.

The relief group will provide up to a month of basic allowance for housing for military members and an equivalent amount for Coast Guard civilians. The loans must be repaid within three months once regular pay has been reinstated, officials said.

“As we face the challenges ahead, I’m reminded of the resilience and dedication of our Coast Guard family. Now, they need us to have their backs,” said Jason Wong, the CGMA’s chief operating officer and a retired Coast Guard master chief petty officer. 

The CGMA provided some $8.4 million in relief to more than 6,200 Coast Guard personnel and their families during the 2018-2019 government shutdown. The non-profit has delivered $50 million in assistance during the past five years, from more than $250 million since CGMA’s founding in 1924, officials said Friday.

Military operations are considered essential to the nation’s security, so troops reported for work after the partial government shutdown began on Wednesday. It will continue until appropriations are passed in Congress.

“Military personnel on active duty, including reserve component personnel on federal active duty, will continue to report for duty and carry out their assigned duties,” according to a Sept. 27 contingency plan from the Department of Defense.

“Military personnel on active duty may be assigned to carry out non-excepted activities in place of furloughed civilian personnel only to the extent that the non-excepted activity is capable of performance without incurring new obligations,” the plan stated.

On Wednesday, Rep. Mike Rogers, the Alabama Republican who chairs the House Armed Services Committee, blamed Democrats for the government shutdown, calling it detrimental to the nation’s security and harmful to the troops.

“Shutting the government down disproportionally harms our service members and their families, threatens military readiness, and undermines our national security,” he said in a statement. “Democrats are forcing American service members to work without pay and delaying delivery of critical capabilities to our warfighters just to appease their radical left wing.”