{"id":78164,"date":"2025-10-11T21:55:58","date_gmt":"2025-10-11T21:55:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2025\/10\/11\/trump-directs-pentagon-to-pay-troops-despite-shutdown\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T16:17:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T16:17:16","slug":"trump-directs-pentagon-to-pay-troops-despite-shutdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2025\/10\/11\/trump-directs-pentagon-to-pay-troops-despite-shutdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump directs Pentagon to pay troops despite shutdown"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">President Donald Trump said Saturday that he has directed the Defense Department to use \u201call available funds\u201d to ensure <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2025\/10\/10\/troops-request-assistance-at-unprecedented-rate-as-shutdown-persists\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2025\/10\/10\/troops-request-assistance-at-unprecedented-rate-as-shutdown-persists\/\">U.S. troops are paid<\/a> Wednesday despite the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/pay-benefits\/military-benefits\/health-care\/2025\/10\/10\/tricare-warns-government-shutdown-could-stall-claims-payments\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/pay-benefits\/military-benefits\/health-care\/2025\/10\/10\/tricare-warns-government-shutdown-could-stall-claims-payments\/\">government shutdown<\/a>, a short-term fix that will not apply to the hundreds of thousands of federal workers who have been furloughed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump said in a social media post that he was acting because \u201cour Brave Troops will miss the paychecks they are rightfully due on October 15th.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Republican president\u2019s directive removes one of the pressure points that could have forced Congress into action, likely ensuring that the shutdown \u2014 now in its 11th day and counting \u2014 extends into a third week and possibly beyond. But no similar action seems forthcoming for federal employees also working without pay while <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/government-shutdown-federal-worker-firings-0439e8d0979d9a32e021c5c851fea1cf\" rel=\"\">thousands are now being laid off<\/a> during the lapse in government operations. The White House budget office started the layoffs on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2025\/10\/10\/ausa-donates-more-than-1-million-for-conference-travel-amid-shutdown\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_9560.jpg_3635c5.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">AUSA donates more than $1 million for conference travel amid shutdown<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The donation, which comes as troops may miss paychecks amid the government shutdown, will allow soldiers to attend the association&#039;s annual conference. <\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump blamed Democrats and said he was exercising his authority as commander in chief to direct Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth \u201cto use all available funds to get our Troops PAID on October 15th.\u201d The Republican president added, \u201cWe have identified funds to do this, and Secretary Hegseth will use them to PAY OUR TROOPS.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">U.S service members were in danger of not receiving their next paycheck on Wednesday after the government shut down on Oct. 1, the start of the federal budget cycle. The U.S. has about 1.3 million active-duty service members, and the prospect of troops going without pay has been a focal point when lawmakers on Capitol Hill have discussed the shutdown\u2019s negative impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump did not say where he\u2019s getting the money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One possible source would be the billions of dollars that were pumped into the Defense Department under Trump\u2019s big tax and spending cut bill that he signed into law in July. The Congressional Budget Office said such a move was possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A spokesperson for the White House Office of Management and Budget said Pentagon research and development funds would be used to pay the salaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Federal workers typically receive back pay after a shutdown ends, as now required by a law that Trump signed during his first term. He recently floated the idea of not making up the lost salaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It was unclear if the president\u2019s directive applies to the U.S. Coast Guard, which is a branch of the U.S. Armed Forces but is overseen by the Department of Homeland Security during peacetime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The nation\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/01\/04\/as-shutdown-continues-lawmakers-look-for-fix-on-coast-guard-pay\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/01\/04\/as-shutdown-continues-lawmakers-look-for-fix-on-coast-guard-pay\/\">third shutdown in 12 years<\/a> has again raised anxiety levels among service members and their families as those in uniform are working without pay. While they would receive back pay once the impasse ends, many military families live paycheck to paycheck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During previous shutdowns, Congress <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2024\/12\/19\/looming-government-shutdown-could-hurt-military-families-veterans\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2024\/12\/19\/looming-government-shutdown-could-hurt-military-families-veterans\/\">passed legislation<\/a> to ensure that troops kept earning their salaries, but discussion of taking a similar step by lawmakers appeared to have fizzled out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Asked earlier this week if he would support a bill to pay the troops, Trump said, \u201cthat probably will happen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019ll take care of it,\u201d he said Wednesday. \u201cOur military is always going to be taken care of.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The shutdown began on Oct. 1 after Democrats rejected a short-term funding fix and demanded that the bill include an extension of federal subsidies for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. The expiration of those subsidies at the end of the year will result in monthly cost increases for millions of people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump and Republican leaders have said they are open to negotiations on the health subsidies, but insist the government must reopen first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Both sides appear dug in on their positions, making it unclear when, or how, the shutdown ends.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Trump says he&#8217;s directed the Defense Department to use \u201call available funds\u201d to ensure that troops are paid on Wednesday despite the shutdown.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":109928,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":65,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,16,26,65,67],"tags":[],"coauthors":[2565],"class_list":["post-78164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress","category-your-air-force"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"4F22FFF3YRE5FGCF6A5MEKYW6E","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2025\/10\/11\/trump-directs-pentagon-to-pay-troops-despite-shutdown\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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