BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS -- On January 12th 2019, State Representatives Patrick Kearney (Scituate) and Maria Robinson (Framingham) filed a bill that would allow the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to pay its residents that are on active duty with the Coast Guard while the federal government remains shut down.  

The bill seeks to provide payment to Coast Guard members in Massachusetts who continue to serve the people of the Commonwealth, despite not receiving paychecks during the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. 

“The men and women of the United States Coast Guard are duly diligent and as members of the United States military, sacrifice every day to protect our country’s waterways and communities. The last thing we should be doing right now is holding their paychecks hostage at the time of this longest U.S. Government shut-down in history,” said Kearney, an Ensign in the United States Navy Reserves and licensed United States Coast Guard Captain.

“Seeing our military families line up at shelters and worrying about missing mortgage payments is heartbreaking and completely against our American values,” said Robinson.

Currently, just under 2,000 active Coast Guard personnel who are residents of Massachusetts are facing the ramifications of unpaid status. 

Representatives Kearney and Robinson are seeking a FY2019 supplemental budget to ensure support for active military and their families during the government shut-down.