By Patricia Zengerle and Bo Erickson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump signed an order on Wednesday directing the Pentagon to ensure active-duty military personnel are paid despite the federal government shutdown, the White House said, 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 on social media.
As the standoff between Trump’s Republicans and congressional Democrats stretched into a third week, 1.3 million active-duty military risked missing their mid-month paychecks. Service members remain on duty despite the shutdown that began on October 1. Their work is deemed essential for national security.
TROOPS WERE PAID IN PAST SHUTDOWNS
Members of Congress pride themselves on supporting service members, who put their lives on the line for national security. In past shutdowns, they passed bills to ensure the troops would be paid.
Trump had promised the service members would get their pay, and his administration said on Saturday it would use unspent Department of Defense research and development funds to cover the checks.
However, it was not clear where funds would come from to cover the military’s next paychecks at the end of October.
House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson accused Democrats of holding the troops “hostage” by refusing to agree to a Republican spending plan to reopen the government.
“The most pro-shutdown Democrats actually represent the most active duty service members back home, whom they have taken hostage in this insidious political game,” Johnson told a press conference on Wednesday, referring to lawmakers from states that are home to large numbers of troops.
Democrats blamed the Republicans for refusing to even discuss any compromise.
Republicans control the House, Senate, and White House, but would need Democratic votes in the Senate to advance the measure. Democrats say any funding package to reopen the government must also extend healthcare subsidies for about 24 million Americans that are due to expire at the end of the year.
When government offices closed in 2013, members of the military were paid because Congress passed a separate “Pay Our Military Act.” This year, Republican Representative Jen Kiggans introduced a similar bill, the “Pay Our Troops Act,” but it did not pass before Johnson sent the House home last month.
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle and Bo Erickson; additional reporting by Costas Pitas and Bhargav Acharya; Editing by Rami Ayyub, Rod Nickel)
