Kristi Noem Ensures Coast Guard Pay Continuity Amid Government Shutdown

On Monday evening, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem assured that Coast Guard personnel would receive their paychecks this week, despite the ongoing government shutdown.

Noem said the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Coast Guard, found an “innovative” way to provide the money. The announcement came two days after President Donald Trump said he would direct the Defense Department to pay military members Wednesday, even though the majority of government workers are not getting paid during the federal funding lapse.

“President Trump was determined to ensure none of our military personnel would miss their pay due to what he called the Democrats’ political theater. At DHS, we devised a creative strategy to prevent that,” Noem shared on the social media platform X.

Asked for details about the “innovative solution” or where the funding would come from, a DHS spokesperson did not provide any new information and instead referred NBC News to the text of Noem’s social media post.

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The White House Office of Management and Budget said over the weekend that it plans to use research and development funds to deliver paychecks to military service members this week.

The administration began laying off more than 4,000 federal workers across seven departments last week. Of those, 176 were DHS employees, according to a Justice Department court filing Friday. The layoffs are being challenged in court.

The moves to pay some uniformed service members who would otherwise not be paid during the shutdown are the latest efforts by the administration to offset some of the less popular aspects of the funding lapse, which is about to hit the two-week mark.

Congress does not appear to have a plan to reopen the government.

The Senate has repeatedly voted and failed to pass Republican and Democratic versions of a temporary funding bill. The chamber is back in session Tuesday, but Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has said he won’t bring House back until the Senate passes a funding bill.