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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsA Small Alaska Town Reels as the Coast Guard Weathers On Without Pay
KODIAK, Alaska The morning after more than 40,000 Coast Guard members missed their first paycheck, and the federal governments shutdown stretched into its fourth week, Eleanor King placed an empty jar next to her diners cash register.
In scribbled black marker, a sign on the jar, written in all capital letters, read: Donation Coast Guard. By 9 a.m. on Wednesday, nearly an hour before a rainy winter sunrise, the jar held $120 money with which patrons were effectively buying meals for members of the maritime force.
While the shutdown has affected hundreds of thousands of federal workers across the United States, halting paychecks and furloughing those who have been deemed nonessential personnel, it has brought a particular chill to Kodiak, a small town of 6,300 on an isolated island in the Gulf of Alaska.
Roughly a quarter of the islands population is either an employee or dependent family member of the Coast Guard, which has now had to scale back some of its operations in one of the worlds most dangerous waterways.
A high cost of living is common to communities in the Alaskan wilderness, but the Coast Guard contingent in Kodiak makes the town especially vulnerable to the drought in federal cash. Local businesses like Ms. Kings diner are losing money daily even while trying to help.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/18/us/politics/coast-guard-government-shutdown.html?fbclid=IwAR2u8JKTpmes-c62m9V_lyvWS4YXTPveZTleXvsWCC9t5Vx-Nq4pbokOG6Y
Hermit-The-Prog
(33,349 posts)Mitch McConnell and Senate Russiapublicans voted to pay Deripaska but not U.S. workers, including the Coast Guard.
Jeffersons Ghost
(15,235 posts)winetourdriver01
(1,154 posts)This is too much, these men and women risk their lives every day for us. Every fucking day. Whether they get paid or not. The disrespect the republican party is showing to these people is unforgivable. I understand that part of the reason they are going along with this farce is because the whole caucus is filthy with Russian mob money, but there must be a shred of humanity left in a few of them. Now is the time.
Scurrilous
(38,687 posts)dflprincess
(28,079 posts)while screwing the Coast Guard goes right past Trump and his cult.
dansolo
(5,376 posts)Every time Trump brings up border security, someone should remind him that he isn't paying any of the people that are responsible for securing our borders.
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)harshest weather of the winter in that region. And with the Fishing Fleets they so depend on the Coast Guard for their life support this time of year.