Troops Will Receive Next Paycheck Amid Shutdown, OMB Says

Troops get paid on the first of every month. Their Oct. 1 paychecks came from the Pentagon’s research and development fund.

U.S. soldiers walk past a gate of U.S. Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, on Feb. 21, 2019. Jung Yeon-je/AFP via Getty Images

WASHINGTON—U.S. troops will get their next paycheck on Nov. 1 amid the government shutdown, according to the Office of Management and Budget.

There will be $5.3 billion overall to pay the military. The breakdown is that $2.5 billion will come from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, $1.4 billion will come from the procurement account, and $1.4 billion will come from research and development funding, the White House budget office told The Epoch Times.

Troops get paid on the first of every month. Their Oct. 1 paychecks came from the Pentagon’s research and development fund.

There was a $130 million private donation given to the military to pay the troops, according to President Donald Trump. The donor, whose name was not revealed, is a friend of the president.

Speaking to reporters at the U.S. Capitol on Oct. 28, Vice President JD Vance said troops will get paid.

“We believe that we can continue to pay the troops on [Oct. 31],” he said. “Unfortunately, we’re not going to be able to pay everybody, because we’ve been handed a very bad hand by the Democrats.”

However, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the troops will not get their paychecks after Nov. 15.

“I think we'll be able to pay them beginning in November, but by Nov. 15, our troops and service members who are willing to risk their lives aren’t going to be able to get paid,” he said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Oct. 26.

The Senate last week rejected a bill that would have paid the troops and federal employees working during the shutdown.

Meanwhile, people on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will not be able to get their benefits on Nov. 1 if the government does not open by then. The program allows people on low to no income to purchase groceries.

The Department of Agriculture, which administers SNAP, stated in a memo obtained by The Epoch Times that it cannot use emergency funds to maintain the SNAP program if Congress does not allocate funding.

“SNAP contingency funds are only available to supplement regular monthly benefits when amounts have been appropriated for, but are insufficient to cover, benefits,” the memo states. “The contingency fund is not available to support [fiscal year] 2026 regular benefits, because the appropriation for regular benefits no longer exists.”

The White House has called on Democrats to open the government to hand out SNAP benefits.

“Over 40 million Americans face the risk of losing critical SNAP food benefits,” the White House posted on X on Oct. 27. “This crisis could be resolved if Democrats prioritized the needs of the American people over political games.

“The contingency fund is not available to support [fiscal year] 2026 regular benefits, because the appropriation for regular benefits no longer exists.”

During fiscal year 2024, SNAP supported 12.3 percent of the U.S. population, or 41.7 million people, monthly.

SNAP is a mandatory program, but it is funded through appropriations, whereas other mandatory programs such as Medicare and Medicaid are not.

Emel Akan contributed to this report.