As government shutdown stretches into fourth week, Coast Guard becomes first military branch in history to go unpaid
By DINA ARÉVALO
Port Isabel-South Padre Press
editor@portisabelsouthpadre.com
With Thursday marking the 27th day of the federal government shutdown, the United States Coast Guard (USCG) became the first American military branch in history to go without pay.
That was the news according to Adm. Karl L. Schultz, commandant of the Coast Guard, who addressed its service members in a letter released on Tuesday.
“Today you will not be receiving your regularly scheduled mid-month paycheck. To the best of my knowledge, this marks the first time in our Nation’s history that servicemembers in a U.S. Armed Force have not been paid during a lapse in government appropriations,” Schultz wrote.
“It is also not lost on me that our dedicated civilians are already adjusting to a missed paycheck—we are confronting this challenge together,” said later in the letter.
The federal government has been under a partial shutdown since midnight on Dec. 22, 2018 after Congress and President Donald Trump failed to reach an agreement on an appropriations bill.
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