Coast Guard caught as ‘collateral damage’ in Democrats' DHS shutdown as China, Russia press US waters
EXCLUSIVE: Republican lawmakers tasked with oversight of the Coast Guard said the lone military branch not under Pentagon authority is being wrongly hurt by Democrats holding up funding for the Department of Homeland Security.
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., is demanding "three basic objectives" to come back to the table, according to CBS News: prohibiting ICE agents from certain properties, unmasking agents in public while mandating bodycams, and addressing use-of-force concerns.
However, ICE and other immigration-related agencies within DHS remain funded through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and other appropriations, leaving FEMA, the Merchant Marine, the Coast Guard and other agencies in the lurch, Republicans say.
"Many young Coast Guard families and personnel live paycheck to paycheck. Asking them to continue protecting our waters without the stability they deserve places a real burden on the very people who keep Alaska safe," said Rep. Mark Begich, R-Alaska, who serves on the House Transportation Subcommittee overseeing maritime and Coast Guard operations.
"I have stood with the Coast Guard, and I will continue to stand with them."
Begich said the guard should never be treated as "collateral damage in Washington’s political fights."
Both he and fellow Last Frontier lawmaker Dan Sullivan told Fox News Digital the USCG is on the front lines of protecting America’s north from ongoing Chinese and Russian aggression.
Sullivan warned of foreign military traffic near Alaska climbing sharply, a trend he says has gone largely unnoticed outside the region even as Moscow and Beijing coordinate more closely.
"Let’s just say the world's largest fleet of oceanographic survey ships wasn't off the coast of Alaska to ‘save the whales,’" Sullivan told Fox News Digital in a recent interview.
DEMOCRATS' DHS SHUTDOWN HALTS ICE OVERSIGHT THEY DEMANDED
Begich noted Alaska itself comprises half the nation’s entire coastline mileage and three-fifths of its seafood fisheries — both of which interests rely on the Coast Guard.
Rep. Jimmy Patronis, R-Fla., represents that coastline on the other side of the country. Within Patronis’ district is NAS Pensacola, where he said the USCG has a presence.
He, along with fellow Floridian and Coast Guard subcommittee member Brian Mast, lamented that servicemembers could soon go without pay as they participate in dangerous drug interdictions to protect the U.S.
While the Pentagon’s strikes on drug boats make much of the news, Patronis said the Coast Guard’s role in interdictions is vital.
"Those guys will be in an M-60 helicopter, they will track down the drug runner, they will then continue to fly over, flag them down, try to get them to stop before the drug runners feel like they will be able to outrun. Going almost 100 miles an hour … in a helicopter chase after the boat, they will literally shoot the motor out from a moving target and bring the vessel to a dead halt. And then the [USCG] vessels will come in and do the arrest," he said.
"The role the Coast Guard plays in the Gulf of America is huge. [The shutdown] is a gut punch to morale."
Patronis said Democrats are in a tough spot because they have a base that is "rabid" about ICE, quipping that the Tom Homan they are upset at is the same Tom Homan whom President Barack Obama presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
"[Homan] is not a hardliner … he’s a doer, he’s a public servant and Trump recognizes that — so you know [the situation] has been de-escalated."
Schumer’s demand to unmask, he said, is a "non-starter" — given that agitators will continue to shield their own identities and use untoward means to disrupt operations.
DHS SHUTDOWN LEAVES LOCAL EMERGENCY RESPONDERS ON THEIR OWN AMID EXTREME WEATHER, EXPERT WARNS
Rep. Salud Carbajal of California, the top Democrat on that chamber’s panel, said that Republicans have the power to restore Coast Guard funding while they control all houses of government.
"I urge the White House and Republican leaders to work across the aisle and support the common-sense guardrails the American people are demanding," Carbajal said.
"In the wake of the murders of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, the American people are rightfully concerned that ICE is operating with too little oversight. Democrats are united in calling for reasonable safeguards to protect communities."
Mast, whose district falls along the Atlantic coast near Port St. Lucie, said that he has Coast Guard servicemembers "up and down my district" and a USCG station about a mile from his house.
"I think this is something that a lot of people aren't thinking about. We just went through what was the longest government shutdown, and it left a lot of people reeling to include, of course, Coast Guardsmen-and-women."
Mast said the servicemembers in his district are finally catching up on mortgages and other payments from the October shutdown and are now "prepping for the exact same thing."
"A lot of people don’t realize it's like them going from one [government] emergency to the next while they're still expected to go out there and respond to emergencies."
Fox News Digital reached out to the House and Senate Democrats who serve as ranking members on the two relevant subcommittees for comment.
Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del., the ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee’s Coast Guard subcommittee, agreed that Coast Guard families "do not deserve to miss a paycheck."
But, she told Fox News Digital that DHS could easily reallocate funding to ensure servicemembers remain paid.
"Instead, millions are being spent expanding ICE operations that sow fear in communities across the country," she said. "We can and must guarantee that our Coast Guard members receive their pay on time. That is why I’ve supported bipartisan safeguards like the Pay Our Coast Guard Act, so Coast Guard families are fully accounted no matter what happens in Washington."
Blunt Rochester, whose state has a prominent coastline and fishery, said Congress needs to pass a responsible solution that keeps critical operations running while instituting needed DHS reforms.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Coast Guard for comment.