Coast Guard and DHS workers remain unpaid as shutdown continues

WASHINGTON, DC: Currently, thousands of Department of Homeland Security workers, including members of the US Coast Guard, have yet to receive their salaries as the shutdown continues, even after some workers started receiving their delayed pay.

The shutdown, which started in February, has seen many Department of Homeland Security workers work without pay as Congress continues to stall on reaching an agreement on long-term funding.

Coast Guard and DHS staff report working without pay

Thousands of civilian Coast Guard workers have also been working without pay during the more than a monthlong partial government shutdown.

“Don't get me wrong, we're very happy for the TSA workers,” a Coast Guard worker told NBC News.

“As soon as we heard they were being paid, there was all kinds of chatter in the office. There was certainly some, I would say, big feelings among the staff. But what we were feeling, more than anything, was forgotten.”

Nobody, the worker said, is coming to their rescue.

After the national outcry from both TSA workers and other air passengers, President Donald Trump last week ordered the Department of Homeland Security to pay the TSA workers what they were due.

But Trump’s order was just a temporary measure for TSA workers, while the rest of the DHS employees who have been called to work without pay have yet to receive any compensation.

The workers include civilian Coast Guard personnel, FEMA employees, as well as Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency workers.

On Sunday, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees slammed Congress for leaving Washington for the Easter/Passover break without reaching an agreement on funding DHS.

“I have never been more disgusted by the failure of elected leadership in my life,” AFGE President Everett Kelley said in a statement.

Shutdown linked to political standoff in Congress

The shutdown began after lawmakers failed to reach an agreement on DHS funding, with disagreements largely centered on immigration enforcement policies.

While military personnel in the Coast Guard have continued to receive their paychecks during the shutdown, the last time civilian personnel received their full paycheck was on Feb. 16, while they received their partial paycheck on March 2.

“We didn’t even get a half payment on March 2,” the worker said via email. “Payroll paid half of our gross salary with full deductibles. So our net pay was less than half. And nothing since then.”

The Trump administration and Republicans have blamed Democrats for the plight of TSA and other DHS workers.

Democrats, in turn, have accused the Trump administration and Republicans of using DHS workers as pawns in a political game to avoid changing ICE policies demanded by the public.

Trump stepped in last week to provide a Band-Aid solution for TSA workers, but employees in other essential DHS departments remain unpaid.