On Saturday, President Trump instructed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to allocate all of the department’s “available funds” to ensure military servicemembers are paid during the government shutdown.
Attributing the failure to congressional Democrats and specifically pointing at Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Trump stated that the troops would miss their upcoming paychecks. Servicemembers are set to receive their next payments on Oct. 15.
“Therefore, I am exercising my authority as Commander in Chief to instruct our Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to utilize all available funds so that our Troops receive their pay on October 15th,” Trump shared on his social media platform Truth Social.
“We have identified funds to do this, and Secretary Hegseth will use them to PAY OUR TROOPS,” Trump said.
This comes after House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) cast blame on Democrats for the potential pay lapse.
“HR 5371 (the Continuing Resolution) is the bill to ensure our troops are paid,” Johnson wrote on the social media platform X. “No military personnel or their families should have their pay withheld on October 15! With the bill having ALREADY PASSED THE HOUSE, a mere yes vote from five more Democrats on Tuesday would enable the military to be paid by Wednesday.”
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