When Washington’s budget gridlock grinds the government to a halt, the men and women in uniform shouldn’t have to stand guard without a paycheck.

Yet that’s exactly what has happened. During the 35-day shutdown of 2018–2019 – the longest in U.S. history – nearly 50,000 U.S. Coast Guard members went unpaid (including 42,000 active-duty personnel) while their fellow service branches continued to receive pay. Families struggled to afford food and rent; some Coast Guard spouses turned to food pantries to feed their children. And just this past fall, as a funding lapse hit on October 1, 2025, roughly 1.3 million active-duty servicemembers faced missing their mid-month paycheck on October 15. These Americans carried on with their missions – guarding our shores, manning rescue stations, flying sorties – all with the added worry of no income to cover their own families’ needs.

Those who defend our nation deserve financial certainty and should never be used as bargaining chips in a political standoff. Congress must act now to ensure that in any future government shutdown, our servicemembers – including the oft-forgotten Coast Guard – continue to be paid on time for their vital work.

Bipartisan Bills to Pay Our Troops and Coast Guard

Thankfully, lawmakers from both parties have introduced legislation in 2025 and 2026 to fix this. These proposals would guarantee uninterrupted pay for service members and Coast Guard personnel during a shutdown, and they enjoy broad, bipartisan support. Among them:

• Pay Our Troops Act of 2026 (H.R.5401) – Introduced in the House by Rep. Jennifer Kiggans (R-VA) with over 200 cosponsors, this bill provides automatic continuing appropriations for all members of the Armed Forces (active-duty and reserve) whenever regular funding lapses. It also covers the essential civilians and contractors at the Department of Defense – and at the Department of Homeland Security in the case of the Coast Guard – who support our troops. In short, under this act, soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, Guardians, and Coast Guardsmen would never miss a paycheck in a shutdown, with stopgap funding lasting until appropriations are enacted or until the end of the fiscal year.
• Pay Our Military Act of 2025 (S.3002) – A Senate companion championed by Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) and a coalition of colleagues from both parties. This bill explicitly ensures that all active-duty and reserve personnel across the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Space Force and Coast Guard continue to receive their pay during a government shutdown. It extends to reservists who are drilling and guarantees compensation for the civilians and contractors at DoD and DHS who provide critical support to the military. In essence, it’s a blanket assurance: if you wear the uniform or support those who do, your paycheck will not be interrupted by political impasse.
• Pay Our Coast Guard Act (S.802) – Introduced by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) in February 2025 (with original cosponsors including Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Sen. Dan Sullivan), this bipartisan bill focuses on the Coast Guard’s unique vulnerability. It would make continuous appropriations for Coast Guard pay during any government shutdown, finally bringing parity to Coast Guard members who have too often been left behind due to their funding through DHS rather than DOW. The previous shutdown in 2019 hit Coast Guard families hard, and this act aims to ensure those who guard our shores are valued the same as other service branches.
• Pay Our Coast Guard Parity Act of 2025 (H.R.1542) – A House measure led by Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-MI) and Rep. Tom Barrett (R-MI) that zeroes in on closing the pay gap exposed in 2018–2019. This bipartisan bill provides continuing appropriations for Coast Guard salaries and benefits whenever the Coast Guard’s funding expires but the Defense Department’s does not. In other words, if other military branches are funded and only the Coast Guard is left out in the cold, this act would kick in to keep Coasties paid and their benefits flowing. It even covers death gratuities and housing allowances for fallen Coast Guard members’ families during a lapse – a matter of basic decency that should never be in question.

Each of these bills shares a simple premise: no man or woman who volunteers to serve this nation – or their family – should ever have to worry about feeding their kids or paying the mortgage because of a Washington funding feud. It is encouraging that they have won strong support from military and veteran’s groups. The campaign to secure military pay has drawn backing from across the community – from the National Military Family Association and Blue Star Families to Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Military Officers Association of America. Even labor unions like the United Steelworkers have joined in urging action, as has the Defense Credit Union Council itself. This isn’t a partisan issue; it’s a patriotic one. Congress should seize this rare consensus and act immediately – either by passing these bills outright or folding their provisions into a must-pass package – to guarantee our troops’ pay.

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Credit Unions Bridging the Gap – A Temporary Lifeline

Why the urgency? Because stopgap measures are just that: stopgaps, not solutions. I’ve seen firsthand how, in the absence of a law, military families have been forced to rely on the kindness of their financial institutions to get through a shutdown. Credit unions – especially defense credit unions on bases and in military communities – have repeatedly stepped up in these crises, but it’s a role they shoulder out of necessity, not choice.

These acts of compassion underscore the financial solidarity in the military community. But as generous and necessary as they are, no military family should have to rely on an interest-free loan or charity to put food on the table because Congress can’t fund the government. We should not normalize a scenario where a young Navy family in Norfolk or an Air Force family in Ohio has to call their credit union to ask for help with the electric bill due to a political impasse. The permanent solution is to remove the threat entirely – by codifying that pay for our servicemembers and Coast Guard personnel will continue without interruption, shutdown or no shutdown.

A Call to Action: Honor Their Service with Financial Security

It is time for Congress to finish the job and pass legislation guaranteeing uninterrupted pay for our troops. The bills are teed up, the bipartisan support is there, and the cost of inaction is measured in real human hardship for those who serve. Every lawmaker who professes to “support the troops” must recognize that support is meaningless if it doesn’t extend to their paychecks during a shutdown.

Credit unions will continue to do their part in the meantime, just as they always have. As Anthony Hernandez, a retired Air Force Colonel and CEO of DCUC, noted during the last shutdown, “Credit unions have always stood ready to serve those who serve our nation… offering tailored support to ensure the financial well-being of our servicemembers.” We are proud to back our military families in times of need. But we all would prefer to see a day when such emergency financial triage is unnecessary – when those in uniform have the basic assurance that the pay they’ve earned will be there, without delay, every time.

Congress has an opportunity – and frankly, a duty – to make this right. Incorporating the Pay Our Troops Act and the Pay Our Coast Guard Act into law would uphold a simple principle: those who risk life and limb for this country should never have to risk their family’s financial stability due to political gamesmanship. Let’s guarantee our heroes their pay, and in doing so, send a clear message: America will not allow our defenders to ever serve in uncertainty again. It’s the least our nation can do for those who do so much for us.