Vice President J.D. Vance stated that U.S. troops will receive their paychecks on Friday despite the ongoing government shutdown, which has persisted for nearly a month. “We do think that we can continue paying the troops, at least for now,” Vance said during an interview. He added, “We’ve got food stamp benefits that are set to run out in a week. We’re trying to keep as much open as possible. We just need the Democrats to actually help us out.”
Earlier this month, the Trump administration allocated approximately $8 billion from unobligated research and development funds to cover military payroll on October 15. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent noted that the Department of War has sufficient unobligated funding to pay service members through October but warned that by November 15, troops may no longer receive pay. “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,” Bessent said during a Sunday interview.
Over 334,900 civilian employees at the Department of War were scheduled for furloughs during the shutdown, according to a Pentagon contingency plan. Vance reiterated that “we believe we can continue to pay the troops on Friday” but emphasized that not everyone would be paid due to “a very bad hand by the Democrats.” He linked the situation to federal workforce layoffs, stating, “This is one of the reasons why you’ve seen some layoffs in the federal workforce.”
Republicans have focused on persuading a small number of Senate Democrats to support stopgap funding to reopen the government. However, this strategy has failed repeatedly, with a recent Senate vote on reopening legislation failing for the 13th time. Democratic lawmakers face increasing pressure to resolve the stalemate. Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, urged Congress to pass a funding bill immediately, calling for an end to “gamesmanship” and “half measures.”
Despite these calls, Democratic senators, including Virginia’s Tim Kaine, have resisted compromising. Kaine insisted on guarantees from the White House to prevent mass firings of federal workers and demanded extensions for health care subsidies under the Affordable Care Act. “We’ve got to get a deal with Donald Trump,” Kaine said.
