PORTLAND, Maine - The nearly 600 Coast Guard members stationed across New England will be receiving a paycheck on Monday after all.
In a reversal Friday night, Vice Commandant Adm. Charles Ray issued the message to Coast Guard personnel, that the Department of Homeland Security had "identified a way" to pay service members for the work they'd done, despite the partial government shutdown on Dec. 22.
The 42,000 Coast Guard members are in a different boat than members of the Navy, Army, Air Force, and Marines. The other armed services branches all received their funding through a Department of Defense appropriations bill signed by President Trump in September. The Coast Guard, as part of the Department of Homeland Security was not part of that package.
Maine hosts ten ashore units, and six units afloat.
Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins, who says she contacted the White House Friday afternoon on behalf of Coast Guard families, tweeted Friday night that it was "good news" and will provide "immediate relief" for Coast Guard members.
However, the pay plan is only temporary. Coast Guard members face another empty pay day on Jan. 15 if the government shut down continues.
