President Donald Trump said Saturday that his administration will make sure military personnel get paid Wednesday when their checks are due, despite the partial government shutdown.
The Oct. 15 pay date for about 2.1 million troops had become one of the biggest near-term inflection points in the shutdown standoff, which has gone on for 11 days so far. In prior funding lapses that dragged on for weeks, military pay wasn’t an issue because the troops were paid through separate spending bills.
But with no signs of movement toward a bipartisan deal to reopen the government and Republicans uninterested in stand-alone legislation to pay troops, Trump said he told Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to “use all available funds” to ensure the troops are paid on Wednesday.
