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President Donald Trump said Saturday that his administration has identified funding to pay U.S. service members on October 15 as the federal government’s shutdown extends into a third week.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said he will “direct our Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to use all available funds to get our Troops PAID on October 15th.”
A White House Office of Management and Budget spokesperson said the money will come from Pentagon research and development funds that remain available for up to two years.
The Defense Department confirmed the move, saying it “has identified approximately $8 billion of unobligated research, development, testing, and evaluation funds from the prior fiscal year” that can be used to issue paychecks if the shutdown continues.
Legal experts warn the decision to redirect previously appropriated funds could expose the Trump administration to constitutional challenges, since Congress controls federal spending.
The development comes as troops faced the possibility of missing their first paychecks during the shutdown. Republican leaders in Congress have rejected efforts to vote on a standalone military pay bill, increasing pressure on Democrats to agree to a broader spending deal.
Trump had previously pledged that troops would not go unpaid. “We will get our service members every last penny. Don’t worry about it,” he said last weekend at a Navy event in Norfolk, Virginia.
It remains unclear whether the U.S. Coast Guard, which operates under the Department of Homeland Security, will be covered by the redirected Pentagon funds. During the 2019 partial government shutdown, active-duty Coast Guard members missed paychecks — the first time in U.S. history that uniformed service members went unpaid during a funding lapse.
