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01 Oct 2025 14:36

Trump orders Pentagon to pay troops during government shutdown

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signed an order directing the Pentagon to ensure active-duty military personnel are paid despite the federal government shutdown, addressing one of the most sensitive issues in the bitter standoff over federal spending.

Trump directed Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth "to use for the purpose of pay and allowances any funds appropriated by the Congress that remain available for expenditure in Fiscal Year 2026 to accomplish the scheduled disbursement of military pay and allowances for active duty military personnel," according to text of the executive order shared by the White House.

The standoff between Trump's Republicans and congressional Democrats stretched into a third week, with 1.3 million active-duty military at risk of missing their mid-month paychecks. Service members remain on duty despite the shutdown that began on October 1, with their work deemed essential for national security.

The funds for military paychecks will be pulled from the Pentagon's research and development money, with the Pentagon identifying approximately $8 billion of unobligated research development testing and evaluation funds from the prior fiscal year.

Military families have already begun feeling the strain of potential missed paychecks, with some visiting food banks in anticipation of financial hardship. In the Hampton Roads region of Virginia, where 85,000 active-duty military and 58,000 federal civilian workers live, economic anxiety has intensified.

Members of Congress pride themselves on supporting service members, and in past shutdowns, they passed bills to ensure troops would be paid. House Speaker Mike Johnson accused Democrats of holding the troops "hostage" by refusing to agree to a Republican spending plan to reopen the government.

However, it remains unclear where funds would come from to cover the military's next paychecks at the end of October.