Military to receive paychecks today despite shutdown
Members of the military are set to be paid today at the direction of President Trump, while other federal workers go without paychecks until the government reopens.
Mr. Trump said in a post on Truth Social over the weekend that he was directing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to “use all available funds to get our Troops PAID on October 15th.”
“We have identified funds to do this, and Secretary Hegseth will use them to PAY OUR TROOPS. I will not allow the Democrats to hold our Military, and the entire Security of our Nation, HOSTAGE, with their dangerous Government Shutdown,” Mr. Trump said.
Around $8 billion in funds from the previous fiscal year had been identified to cover the mid-month paychecks, according to a Pentagon official. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem also said Coast Guard personnel will also receive paychecks.
The Oct. 15 deadline for military paychecks had been widely viewed as a possible off-ramp in the shutdown, exerting pressure on both sides to come to the table to avoid forcing service members to miss their paychecks. But military pay will continue to be an issue for lawmakers, since the president’s actions only cover the Oct. 15 paychecks. Some in Congress have been pushing for standalone legislation to pay the military.
Thune sets up separate vote on Defense Department funding bill
Senate Majority Leader John Thune is trying an alternate approach to restart some funding, by setting up votes on regular-order appropriations bills. On Tuesday evening, he teed up a vote on the full-year Defense Department appropriations bill, setting up a possible procedural vote for Thursday.
Thune’s move marks a departure from the series of failed votes on the stopgap measure to fund the government into next month. It puts pressure on Democrats, who have said they support work on the regular appropriations process, though they’re at odds with Republicans over how to keep the government funded in the short term.
Thune told reporters last week that he’d be willing to hold votes on standalone bills to fund parts of the government, including the defense bill, as the impasse over the shutdown continues.
Senate expected to vote for 9th time on House-passed measure to fund the government
The Senate is expected to vote again this afternoon on the House-passed measure to fund the government, after the measure fell short for an eighth time Tuesday evening.
While Republicans have been hoping to pick up new support from Democrats on the measure, the bill has failed to gain any new votes from across the aisle since before the shutdown began. There are 53 Republicans in the Senate, but because most legislation requires 60 votes to advance in the upper chamber, Republicans need support from Democrats to reopen the government.
Democratic Sens. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada have supported the measure, along with Sen. Angus King, a Maine independent who caucuses with Democrats. GOP Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky has voted against the bill.