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Maine Coast Guard families impacted by Government shutdown

The Coast Guard will continue operations authorized by law that provide for national security or that protect life and property during partial government shutdowns.

The effects of the government shutdown are being felt hard by some people here in Maine. 

As political debate continues in Washington, hundreds of United States Coast Guard families stationed in Maine are scrambling to get by because personnel are now working without pay.

RELATED: Shutdown day 7: Trump threatens to 'close Southern Border' if Democrats don't fund border wall

"It's very scary to know bills are due in a few days and people don't care if we can pay them,” Lindsay Scott said.

Scott’s husband, Christopher has served in the Coast Guard for nearly 20 years. The family has been stationed all over the country and is now stationed in Kittery. 

He is among 42,000 members nationwide who anticipated a paycheck on Dec. 31.

There are 12 on-shore units in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont and six units afloat in Maine. Across New England there are currently 569 active duty, reserve and civilian employees.

Pay for those employees is unlikely to come by Monday with still no compromise among lawmakers.

“It's just a very big slap in the face. Just since we've been stationed here, he's on a deploy-able ship. He's gone 200 days out of the year and this is the thanks he's getting. We're going to have to beg family and take out loans just to make ends meet,” Scott said.

Scott and others who have contacted NEWS CENTER Maine have said many families have applied for small loans to help pay bills in the meantime. Many of them have reportedly been denied.

Spokesperson Andrew Barresi for the United States Coast Guard said that if legislation is not passed by Friday, Dec. 28, the Coast Guard military workforce will not receive their regularly scheduled pay on Monday.

"Coast Guard uniformed personnel will continue to perform their duties,” Barresi wrote in a statement. “However, with a government shutdown, they will likely not have the full support that they need in order to maintain mission readiness."

All other military branches, including the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps are unaffected because they fall under the Department of Defense.

RELATED: Federal employees, contractors seek assistance as shutdown enters Day 7

The Coast Guard is the only branch under the Department of Homeland Security that has been directly affected by the shutdown.

“It’s unconscionable that President Trump can be so glib about the shutdown and have so little compassion for federal workers, like members of Maine’s Coast Guard, who must go to work without a paycheck while they have families to feed and mortgages to pay,” Democratic Congresswoman Chellie Pingree told NEWS CENTER Maine in a statement.

Pingree said members of Maine’s Coast Guard “deserve recognition from the President not to work without pay due to his needless shutdown.”

Republican Sen. Susan Collins called the shutdown a "failure to govern" in a statement. 

"I cosponsored a bill to ensure that federal employees who work during the shutdown would be paid retroactively, which passed the Senate unanimously," Collins said. "I am also continuing to discuss with the White House and my colleagues on both sides of the aisle ways to bring an end to the shutdown as quickly as possible.”

For Scott and her family, with an 11-year-old son and a dog at home, this could not have come at a worse time.

RELATED: Coast Guard spouses concerned about losing paychecks due to government shutdown

"No one should ever be put in this position,” Scott said.

It could be weeks until a the government is reopened as a compromise is not likely until the new congress is sworn in Jan. 3.  

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