Pay Our Coast Guard Parity Act of 2025
Pay Our Coast Guard Parity Act of 2025
Plain Language Summary
# Pay Our Coast Guard Parity Act of 2025 - Summary **What the Bill Does:** This bill ensures the Coast Guard can continue paying its personnel if the agency runs out of funding while the Department of Defense (DOD) continues to receive money. Specifically, it would automatically provide continuing appropriations (temporary funding) to cover Coast Guard salaries, benefits, and allowances for active-duty and reserve members, as well as civilian and contract employees. This addresses a situation where the Coast Guard could face a funding gap even if the DOD has secured its budget. **Who It Affects:** The bill directly impacts Coast Guard personnel, including active-duty military members, reservists, civilian employees, and contract workers.
Indirectly, it affects the public by ensuring the Coast Guard can maintain operations and pay during budget disputes that sometimes occur in Congress. **Key Provision & Status:** The main provision creates a specific trigger: if Congress fails to pass a Coast Guard budget before the fiscal year begins AND DOD funding is already in place, the Coast Guard automatically gets emergency funding. The bill is currently in committee, meaning it has not yet been debated or voted on by the full House of Representatives.
CRS Official Summary
Pay Our Coast Guard Parity Act of 2025This bill provides continuing appropriations to the Coast Guard for pay and benefits when there is a Coast Guard-specific funding lapse.Under the bill, a Coast Guard-specific funding lapse occurs when (1) a bill providing appropriations for the Coast Guard for a fiscal year has not been enacted before the beginning of that fiscal year, and no joint resolution providing continuing appropriations for the Coast Guard is in effect; and (2) a bill providing appropriations for the Department of Defense (DOD) for the fiscal year has been enacted before the beginning of the fiscal year, or a joint resolution providing continuing appropriation for DOD is in effect. If a Coast Guard-specific funding lapse occurs, the bill provides appropriations to the Coast Guard forpay and allowances for military members of the Coast Guard who perform active service or inactive-duty training;pay and benefits for certain civilian employees and contract employees;the payment of a death gratuity;payments for travel related to funerals, the dignified transfer of remains, and unit memorial services; andthe temporary continuation of the basic allowance for housing for dependents of members of the Coast Guard dying on active duty.The bill generally provides the appropriations to the Coast Guard until the earlier ofthe enactment of specified Coast Guard appropriations legislation,the termination of the availability of appropriations for DOD, ortwo weeks after the beginning of the Coast Guard-specific funding lapse.
Latest Action
Referred to the Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation.