Trump Directs Pentagon to Pay Troops During Government Shutdown

The move follows recent CBO guidance that mandatory accounts under recent legislation could be tapped to cover military pay.

President Donald Trump, joined by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (R), speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on Oct. 9, 2025. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

President Donald Trump said on Oct. 11 that his administration has located funds to keep active-duty servicemembers paid during the government shutdown, saying he will not let Democrats hold the military “hostage” as the Oct. 15 payday looms.

“I am using my authority, as Commander in Chief, to direct our Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to use all available funds to get our troops PAID on October 15th,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “We have identified funds to do this, and Secretary Hegseth will use them to PAY OUR TROOPS.”

Trump did not specify the source of those funds. A spokesperson for the White House Office of Management and Budget said that Pentagon research and development funds would be tapped as it identified about $8 billion of unobligated funds from the last fiscal year that will be used to issue the mid-month paychecks, “in the event the funding lapse continues past October 15th.”

The announcement was made as more than 250,000 federal employees have already missed paychecks, with nearly 2 million more expected to go without pay next week—the shutdown’s third. Unlike civilian employees, U.S. troops are not automatically guaranteed backpay under current law, making the Oct. 15 military payday one of the most politically sensitive flashpoints of the budget standoff.

Trump’s move could relieve immediate pressure on Republican leaders to compromise over Democratic demands on health care, including the extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies set to expire at year’s end. The underlying fight that triggered the shutdown centers on whether to preserve or undo provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and the Working Families Tax Cut Act.

Republicans say those measures are essential to preventing federal health benefits from flowing to illegal immigrants, while Democrats say rolling them back would raise premiums and strip access to care for millions of low-income Americans.

In his post, Trump blamed Democrats for prolonging the impasse, focusing on Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) recent remarks to Punchbowl News that “every day gets better for us” during the shutdown.

“Even the pain that’s caused—the data we have seen and just talking to people, they blame Trump,“ Schumer said in the interview. ”When things are actually shut down, they blame Trump. When things aren’t happening, they blame Trump. Because he’s in charge.”

In his post, Trump wrote: “Chuck Schumer recently said, ‘Every day gets better’ during their Radical Left Shutdown. I DISAGREE! If nothing is done, because of ‘Leader’ Chuck Schumer and the Democrats, our Brave Troops will miss the paychecks they are rightfully due on October 15th,” saying that he will “not allow the Democrats to hold our Military, and the entire Security of our Nation, HOSTAGE, with their dangerous Government Shutdown.”

The president noted that he remains willing to discuss health care and other priorities—once federal operations are restored.