Time is running out to find the next solution paid to service members The $8 billion the Trump administration received during the government shutdown to pay troops salaries is set to expire at the end of the month.
After Senate Democrats on Thursday one vote lost On Senator Ron Johnson’s (R-Wis.) bill to pay active-duty military personnel and federal employees required to work during the shutdown, soldiers, sailors and members of the Air Force may not receive their October 31 pay.
Now, with the shutdown in its fourth week and no end in sight, the administration will need to figure out where to get additional money if it wants to pay its military if Congress fails to come up with a timely solution.
“While I am grateful that President Trump has paid service members so far, I am concerned that the money will run out by the end of October and our military will not get paid on time,” said Rep. Jane Kiggans (R-VA), a former Navy helicopter pilot who last month introduced a stand-alone military pay bill, the Pay Our Troops Act. There has been very little movement on the bill.
Trump instructed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on October 11Pay Service Members‘The mid-month pay using $8 billion in previously appropriated Pentagon funds for research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E).
But that pay cycle cost about $6.5 billion, leaving only $1.5 billion for the Oct. 31 payday, which is expected to cost $6 billion to $7 billion, according to Todd Harrison, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
“My understanding is that the initial money taken out of the RDT&E account was only enough to cover payroll for October 15,” he told The Hill.
Harrison said there are many other accounts with carryover funding from previous years that Pentagon leadership can use to keep pay flowing for months, but at the end of the day, “they’re (virtually) robbing Peter to pay Paul,” he said. “Once funding is restored, they will have to transfer this money back to the accounts where it came from.”
The Pentagon did not respond to The Hill’s request for comment on whether officials have identified any other payroll sources.
It appears the upcoming deadline has lawmakers on both sides of the aisle worried, as senators voted 54-45 against advancing Johnson’s legislation that would have guaranteed pay for essential federal workers, including members of the military, during the government shutdown.
Democratic Senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock of Georgia joined Senator John Fetterman (D-Pa.). break rank In voting for the Republican bill, known as the Shutdown Fairness Act, which needed 60 votes to advance.
Although federal employees are guaranteed back pay when the government reopens, the bill would provide some relief to federal workers who remain without pay until that happens.
But Democrats — who have been adamant in demanding that Republicans extend soon-to-expire Affordable Care Act subsidies and negotiate with them to end the shutdown — saw the bill as extending the shutdown by removing pressure on Republicans to negotiate.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer (NY) on Thursday called Johnson’s bill “a sham,” warning that it would give the White House too much power to determine which federal workers get paid and which are furloughed.
“We will not give Donald Trump license to play politics with people’s livelihoods,” Schumer said.
Democrats instead wanted a bill from Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) that would pay all federal workers during the shutdown. that law also blocked Thursday.
“Republicans are hell-bent on letting Trump pick winners and losers here, but every federal employee, service member and federal contractor deserves to get paid,” Van Hollen said in a statement.
Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn) told reporters that he rejected Johnson’s bill because “We must pay all of our essential workers, not just our military, but also ICE and TSA and air controllers without the president picking his favorites.”
Making matters more complicated, the Senate is set to leave town from Thursday afternoon through Monday, and Trump will embark on a multi-day trip to Asia starting Friday.
Asked whether Republicans had any options if troops were not paid by Oct. 31, Johnson told reporters that Trump “has only so much authority” to pull funding from other areas as he did earlier this month.
“The money is so much that he has the right to it,” he told reporters. “He’s no king, you know, he just has so much authority.”
He added: “My guess is there’s going to be a lot of money lost here, which is why, you know, it’s important, so we’ll see.”
The latest action comes after Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) tried to move forward on a stand-alone Defense Department funding bill last week, but was blocked by Democrats.
Looking ahead, Republicans may try to vote next week on pay for military members, air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration employees, as well as funding for key nutrition benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, before they expire on Nov. 1.
