Urgent: Congressional Action Needed as Trump's $8 Billion Military Fund Depletes, Threatening Troop Salaries

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As the deadline approaches, the Trump administration’s temporary solution to ensure service members receive their pay during the government shutdown is nearing its expiration. The $8 billion fund, initially sourced to cover military paychecks, is projected to be depleted by the end of the month.

Senate Democrats recently blocked a proposal by Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), which aimed to secure salaries for active-duty military personnel and essential federal employees during the shutdown. This setback means that troops, sailors, and Air Force members might miss their upcoming October 31 paycheck.

With the shutdown now stretching into its fourth week and no resolution in sight, the administration faces pressure to identify new funding sources to continue paying its military forces, especially if Congress does not provide a timely remedy.

President Trump has claimed that a friend contributed $130 million for military expenses amid the ongoing shutdown.

“Despite my appreciation for President Trump’s efforts to pay service members up to now, I am worried that funds will be exhausted by the end of October, potentially delaying military payments,” expressed Representative Jen Kiggans (R-Va.), a former Navy helicopter pilot. Last month, she introduced the Pay Our Troops Act, a stand-alone bill focused on military pay, which has seen little progress.

On October 11, Trump instructed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to allocate $8 billion from previously appropriated Pentagon funds meant for research, development, testing, and evaluation (RDT&E) to cover service members’ midmonth salaries.

“My understanding is that the initial money pulled from the RDT&E account was only sufficient to cover the Oct. 15th payroll,” he told The Hill.

Harrison said there are plenty of other accounts with carryover funding from previous years that Pentagon leadership can tap to keep the pay flowing for months, but at the end of the day, “they are just robbing Peter to (literally) pay Paul,” he said. “Once funding is restored, they will need to move this money back into the accounts it came from.”

The Pentagon did not respond to a request for comment from The Hill as to whether officials have identified any other payroll sources.

The upcoming deadline appears to have lawmakers on both sides of the aisle worried, after senators voted 54-45 against advancing legislation from Johnson that would have guaranteed pay for essential federal workers, including members of the military, during the government shutdown.

Georgia’s Democratic Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock joined Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) in breaking ranks in voting for the Republican bill, known as the Shutdown Fairness Act, which needed 60 votes to move forward.

Though federal employees are guaranteed back pay once the government reopens, the bill would have given some relief to federal workers going without pay before that happens.

But Democrats who have held firm in demanding that Republicans extend soon-to-expire Affordable Care Act subsidies and negotiate an end to the shutdown with them saw the bill as extending the shutdown by taking pressure off Republicans to negotiate.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) on Thursday called Johnson’s bill “a ruse,” warning it would give the White House too much power to determine which federal workers get paid and which remain furloughed.

“We will not give Donald Trump a license to play politics with people’s livelihoods,” Schumer said.

Democrats instead wanted a bill from Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), which would pay all federal workers during the shutdown. That legislation also was blocked Thursday.

“Republicans are hell-bent on letting Trump pick winners and losers here, but every federal worker, servicemember, and federal contractor deserves to get paid,” Van Hollen said in a statement.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) told reporters that he voted down Johnson’s bill as “we should pay all of our essential workers, not just our military, but also ICE and TSA and air controllers without the president picking and choosing his favorites.”

Making matters more tricky, the Senate is set to leave town Thursday afternoon until Monday, and Trump has embarked on a multiday trip to Asia.

Asked if Republicans have an alternative if the troops are not paid by Oct. 31, Johnson told reporters that Trump “only has so much latitude” in pulling funding from other areas as he did earlier this month.

“There’s only so many pots of money that he has the authority,” he told reporters. “He’s not a king, you know, he only has so much authority.”

He added: “My guess is those pots of money are going to be running out here, which is why, you know, this is important, so we’ll see.”

The latest action comes after Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) last week tried to move ahead on a stand-alone Defense Department funding bill, but that was blocked by the Democrats.

Looking ahead, Republicans next week could try to force a vote on pay for military members, air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration employees, as well as funding for key nutrition benefits such as those under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program before they’re cut off on Nov. 1.