WASHINGTON — The Trump administration plans to pay military members on Friday by using a mix of legislative and Pentagon funds, according to an official with the White House Office of Management and Budget.
The move would be the second time the White House has been able to avoid missing a pay period for troops during the government shutdown, now in its 30th day. Service members are considered essential federal employees and required to work during a funding lapse, but essential workers typically aren’t paid during a shutdown.
About $2.5 billion from the military housing fund portion of President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, enacted this year, will be tapped for Friday’s paychecks, according to the OMB official. In addition to that, $1.4 billion from the Defense Department’s research and development account and $1.4 billion from its procurement account will be used, the official said.
That would bring the total to about $5.3 billion, which is still less than the $6.5 billion that was drawn upon to pay for troops’ paychecks earlier this month. It’s unclear why there’s a difference in the amounts, and the OMB official did not respond to a request for comment on that particular point.
Axios first reported on the administration’s paycheck plan for Friday.
We’d like to hear from you about how you’re experiencing the government shutdown, whether you’re a federal employee who can’t work right now, a person who relies on federal benefits like SNAP, or someone who is feeling the effects of other shuttered services in your everyday life. Please contact us at tips@nbcuni.com or reach out to us here.
“President Trump is continuing to make good on his promise to take care of the troops despite the fact Democrats have shut down the government and are fine with our bravest men and women getting no pay,” a Pentagon official told NBC News.
The Pentagon recently accepted an anonymous $130 million donation to pay the troops during the shutdown, prompting some Democrats to raise concerns about the legality and ethics surrounding the move.
Earlier this week, on Capitol Hill, Vice President JD Vance said: “We believe that we can continue to pay the troops on Friday. Unfortunately, we’re not gonna be able to pay everybody, because we’ve been handed a very bad hand by the Democrats.”
He added, “We do think that we can continue paying the troops, at least for now, but 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.”
The Senate last week failed to advance a Republican measure that would pay active-duty service members and other federal workers deemed essential during the shutdown. Senate Democrats offered an alternative measure that would pay all federal workers, but that measure also fell short of the votes needed to advance.