While members of the Coast Guard continue to risk their lives on deployment during the government shutdown, the service says it will not be able to provide death benefits to their families should they be killed in the line of duty. Retirees and their families will also be affected due to a lack of funding as long as the shutdown drags on.
Families of US Coast Guard members killed in active service will not receive a one-time death benefit payment, as long as the partial government shutdown continues, according to Lt. Cmdr. Scott McBride, a spokesperson for the service. Nor will retirees, McBride added, along with the next of kin of retirees who were paying into an insurance plan.
McBride told CNN that while retirees and their next of kin are due to receive their benefits on February 1, they will not if the shutdown drags on.
