Trump Orders Military to Be Paid Amid Federal Shutdown

Sun Oct 12 2025 08:39:48 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)

In a bold move during the federal government shutdown, President Trump has directed the Pentagon to utilize all available funds to ensure military personnel receive their scheduled pay, amidst controversy and ongoing political tension.

President Trump has ordered US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth to ensure military personnel are paid during the ongoing federal government shutdown. His directive comes as many government employees face layoffs and delayed payments. Trump criticized Democrats for the shutdown, emphasizing the need to prioritize military pay and hinting at laying off thousands of federal workers to pressure Democratic leaders for a resolution.

Donald Trump is directing US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth to pay military personnel despite the federal government shutdown.

The president said on Saturday that Hegseth must make sure troops do not miss out on their regular paycheque, scheduled for Wednesday. The directive comes as other government employees have already had some pay withheld and others are being laid off.

I will not allow the Democrats to hold our Military, and the entire Security of our Nation, HOSTAGE, with their dangerous Government Shutdown, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.

The Republican and Democratic parties blame each other for failing to agree on a spending plan to reopen the government.

Trump's message asks Hegseth to use all available funds to get our Troops PAID on 15 October, when military personnel would see their pay withheld for the first time since the shutdown began on 1 October.

Many US military employees are considered essential, meaning they must still show up for duty without pay. Some 750,000 other federal employees - about 40% - have been furloughed, or sent home, also without pay.

Furloughed employees are legally supposed to receive back-pay after a shutdown ends and they return to work, but the Trump administration has insinuated this might not happen.

The Radical Left Democrats should OPEN THE GOVERNMENT, and then we can work together to address Healthcare, and many other things that they want to destroy, Trump posted on Saturday.

Democrats have refused to vote for a Republican spending plan that would reopen the government after nearly 12 days shut down, saying any resolution must preserve expiring tax credits that reduce health insurance costs for millions of Americans and reverse Trump's cuts to Medicaid, the healthcare program for elderly and low-income people.

Finding a way to pay for military salaries could help reduce some of the political risk for congressional leaders if the shutdown drags on.

In an effort to pressure Democrats, the Trump administration has also begun laying off thousands of government workers, an unprecedented move during a shutdown.

The reductions included dozens of employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), according to the BBC's US partner CBS news, citing sources familiar with the situation. The agency's entire Washington DC office was laid off, and among the laid-off employees were those working on the CDC's Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report, the agency's Ebola response and immunisations.

The American Federation of Government Employees and AFL-CIO, two major unions representing federal workers, have filed a lawsuit in northern California, asking a judge to temporarily block the layoff orders. It is disgraceful that the Trump administration has used the government shutdown as an excuse to illegally fire thousands of workers who provide critical services to communities across the country, AFGE president Everett Kelley said.