WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said Saturday he has issued an order for the military to be paid next week despite the government shutdown in which many civil servants work without salary.
Trump said he ordered Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth “to use all available funds to get our Troops PAID on October 15th” as he again blamed Democrats for the funding deadlock now in its second week.
“I will not allow the Democrats to hold our Military, and the entire Security of our Nation, HOSTAGE, with their dangerous Government Shutdown,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Nonessential government work stopped after the September 30 funding deadline, with Senate Democrats repeatedly blocking a Republican resolution to reopen federal agencies.
The sticking point has been a refusal by Republicans to include language in the bill to address expiring subsidies that make health insurance affordable for 24 million Americans.
That meant hundreds of thousands of government workers were put on temporary unpaid leave or deemed essential and ordered to work without pay.
About 1.3 million active-duty military personnel were set to miss their pay due next Wednesday — something that has not happened in any of the funding shutdowns through modern history.
The White House said Friday it had begun mass layoffs of federal workers as Trump sought to amp up pressure on opposition Democrats to end a government shutdown that has crippled public services.
It plans to lay off some 4,000 workers across several government agencies, according to court filing seeking to block the action.
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