For the first time in American history, active-duty U.S. service members are on the brink of missing a paycheck as the government shutdown enters its second week – a direct consequence, Republican leaders say, of Senate Democrats’ refusal to pass a clean stopgap funding bill.
Roughly 1.3 million active-duty troops have continued reporting for duty since the shutdown began on October 1, but with Congress at an impasse, the Pentagon has warned that paychecks scheduled for next week will not be issued unless lawmakers act swiftly to restore government funding.
Senate Democrats, led by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, have rejected a House-passed continuing resolution that would temporarily fund the government, insisting instead on additional spending measures that Republicans have refused to endorse.
Top Democrats have shifted blame toward the GOP, claiming that Republicans are responsible for the budget stalemate. But Republicans argue that Democrats are deliberately prolonging the shutdown for political gain – at the expense of military families and federal workers across the nation.
“We’re not in a good mood here in the Capitol. It’s a somber day,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said during a Friday press conference. “Today marks the first day that federal workers across America will receive only a partial paycheck thanks to Democrats’ obstruction. This is the last paycheck that 700,000 federal workers will see until Washington Democrats decide to do their job and reopen the government.”
“Starting next week, American service members, many of whom live paycheck to paycheck, will miss a full paycheck,” Johnson warned. “If Democrats don’t end this shutdown by Monday, the October 15th pay date will pass us by.”
Senate Minority Whip John Thune echoed the sentiment, calling the potential lapse in military pay “beyond the pale” and “unacceptable.”
President Donald Trump, according to House leaders, is reviewing possible emergency measures to ensure service members are paid despite the funding gap. A senior White House official told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the administration is “exploring every legal option available” to get paychecks out during what it has dubbed the “Democrat Shutdown.”
Meanwhile, the uncertainty has triggered a wave of hardship among military families. Charitable organizations such as Blue Star Families and the Army Emergency Relief Fund have seen record-breaking requests for financial assistance in recent days.
Kathy Roth-Douquet, CEO of Blue Star Families, told CNN that fewer than one in three military families have as much as $3,000 in emergency savings. The Army’s official charity has already approved more than $7 million in aid to help soldiers facing missed paychecks, while the Air Force’s relief fund has received thousands of new applications.
Sean Ryan, a spokesperson for Army Emergency Relief, said the organization has processed over 6,000 new account requests since October 8. “We are prepared for $50 million but will make adjustments as needed if more is required,” he said. The surge in traffic even caused the organization’s online portal to crash earlier this week.
Democrats, however, continue to insist that the shutdown is a Republican creation. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries accused the GOP of playing politics with military pay.
“They’re not serious about reopening the government. Republicans aren’t even serious about paying our active-duty troops,” Jeffries told reporters Friday. “Democrats are ready, willing, and able to sit down with our Republican colleagues to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credit, address the GOP’s health care crisis, reopen the government, pay our troops, and enact a spending agreement that makes life better for the American people.”
Yet despite his rhetoric, Jeffries and nearly all House Democrats have repeatedly voted against the clean stopgap funding bill that would have kept the government open and ensured timely pay for troops and federal workers alike.
Senator Thune and other Republican leaders have urged rank-and-file Democrats to break from Schumer and vote to end the shutdown. “All that has to happen is we pick up the bill off the Senate desk,” Thune said during an interview with PBS NewsHour. “If just five Democrats join us in addition to those who already have, the government opens again, everyone gets paid, and this unnecessary pain ends.”
As the political standoff grinds on, the stakes could not be higher. For millions of Americans – from soldiers stationed abroad to families relying on federal paychecks – Washington’s gridlock is no longer a partisan talking point. It’s a crisis that threatens their livelihoods.
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