{"id":81374,"date":"2026-04-28T20:02:36","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T20:02:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2026\/04\/28\/utility-shutoffs-mounting-debt-coast-guard-endures-hardships-in-ongoing-shutdown\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T17:11:55","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T17:11:55","slug":"utility-shutoffs-mounting-debt-coast-guard-endures-hardships-in-ongoing-shutdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2026\/04\/28\/utility-shutoffs-mounting-debt-coast-guard-endures-hardships-in-ongoing-shutdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Utility shutoffs, mounting debt \u2014 Coast Guard endures hardships in ongoing shutdown"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In the past week, some Coast Guard families have had their electricity shut off as a result of unpaid bills. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Coast Guard, which oversees 6,000 family housing units, has been \u201cbegging\u201d utility providers to keep the power and water on during a partial government shutdown that has hampered the service\u2019s ability to pay its bills, Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Kevin Lunday said Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coasties scheduled to move this summer also have mounting credit debt as a result of restrictions on advanced pay for travel, and some have postponed medical treatment or delayed major expenses to avoid costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Civilian Coast Guard employees have fared even worse, according to leadership. One civil servant told Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard Phil Waldron that he sold his car to pay his rent in Ketchikan, Alaska, before emergency funding became available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur total workforce has spent a majority of this fiscal year operating under uncertainty, fear and anger caused by a lapse of appropriations,\u201d Waldron said during a hearing Tuesday on the Coast Guard budget. \u201cThe dangerous missions that our folks conduct every day \u2026 require their complete and total focus. That focus is dangerously fractured when they\u2019re worried about paying their rent or supporting their families.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Coast Guard is the only U.S. armed service affected by the partial government shutdown that began Feb. 14 over a funding dispute for the Department of Homeland Security. While active-duty service members have continued to receive paychecks as a result of funding shifts, the Coast Guard has halted non-emergency operations and maintenance and cannot pay some of its bills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Coast Guard\u2019s civilian employees \u2014 who number nearly 10,000 \u2014 went without a full paycheck from Feb. 16 through early April, when President Donald Trump signed an emergency order to pay them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That emergency funding could run out this week, and the Senate and House of Representatives are again at an impasse over appropriations for DHS, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Patrol, the agencies involved in the killings of two U.S. citizens in Minnesota in January.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The uncertainty as to whether Coast Guard members and civilians will get paid at the end of this week is taking its toll, Lunday and Waldron told members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Maritime Transportation Subcommittee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lunday said the stalemate is \u201cneedlessly harming our people and hollowing out our readiness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe reality today is the Coast Guard is operating in a crisis, Day 74 of a DHS lapse in appropriations,\u201d Lunday said. \u201cThis is taking on our people and their families, the severe hardship and uncertainty, not knowing whether they\u2019ll be paid after this week.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t