Donald Trump has issued a new directive to pay members of the military during the government shutdown.
The President has directed that military personnel be paid using any available funds from the Fiscal Year 2026 budget that Congress has already appropriated.
The decision comes just as Trump’s ‘hatchet man’ Russell Vought issued an ominous warning that more than 10,000 federal workers could end up being fired during the closure, which has entered its second week.
‘I think we’ll probably end up being somewhere north of 10,000’ the budget chief said during a broadcast of the Charlie Kirk Show Wednesday, according to Axios.
CNN noted Wednesday that a federal judge in San Francisco ordered the administration to halt the slashing of 4,100 federal positions, determining it to be unlawful.
Vought has been dubbed the hatchet man by the President himself. A White House AI video has also depicted him as the Grim Reaper.
The presidential order directs the Secretary of War to ensure active-duty US military personnel receive their paychecks on October 15 despite the ‘Democrat Shutdown’, the White House Rapid Response account wrote on X.
Iowa Senator Joni Ernst is the Republican chairman of the Senate DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) caucus which works hand in hand with the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), as well as Vought’s OMB.
Ernst noted that ‘Democrats doubled down on their Schumer Shutdown and refused to reopen the government – even if it meant our service members missed a paycheck. President Trump made sure our brave men and women in uniform did not fall victim to Schumer’s Shenanigans.’
Donald Trump’s presidential order directs the Secretary of War to ensure active-duty US military personnel receive their paychecks on October 15
Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Russell Vought has been dubbed the hatchet man by the President himself
Iowa Republican Senator Joni Ernst said: ‘President Trump made sure our brave men and women in uniform did not fall victim to Schumer’s Shenanigans.’
During the 35-day partial shutdown in 2018-2019, approximately 47,000 Coast Guard members were not paid because they’re funded through the Department of Homeland Security, which was affected by the lapse in appropriations, per Axios.
Speaking from the USS Harry S Truman stationed in Norfolk, Virginia, President Trump said on October 5 that he would call for pay raises for sailors while blaming Democrats for the government shutdown.
‘Do not worry about it,’ Trump said as he promised to get sailors their money back when the government reopens. Those in attendance that day cheered and clapped.
Trump added: ‘We have to take care of this little gnat that’s on our shoulder called the Democrats. They want to give all our money to illegal aliens that pour into the country.’
The Democrats’ proposals do not provide new federal health benefits to people living in the US illegally. Party leaders are seeking to restore the previous eligibility for certain legal immigrants and non-citizens — such as DACA recipients, refugees, and asylum-seekers — which were curtailed by Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill.
One Democratic provision that provides emergency funding to hospitals is money that could be allocated to undocumented immigrants, some argue.
Republicans supported a short-term measure to fund the government generally at current levels through November 21 but Democrats blocked it, insisting the measure address their concerns on health care.
On October 1, the first day of the shutdown, the President said he would with meet Vought ‘to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent.’
Vought told House Republicans that many of those workers would be targeted for permanent layoffs to be announced in the next day or two, echoing Trump spokesman Karoline Leavitt’s threat that firings were ‘imminent.’
Trump has emphasized that he views cutbacks as a way of increasing pain on Democrats, arguing that ‘we can do things during the shutdown that are irreversible, that are bad for them and irreversible by them. Like cutting vast numbers of people out.’
But the messaging on layoffs has been mixed, with Vice-President JD Vance saying that workforce reductions are a necessary evil that the administration would rather avoid.
Vance told reporters federal agencies were not being targeted based on politics, but added: ‘Let’s be honest – if this thing drags on for another few days or, God forbid, another few weeks, we are going to have to lay people off.’
Senate Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and his House of Representatives counterpart Hakeem Jeffries have dismissed the threats of layoffs as an attempt at intimidation and said mass firings would not stand up in court.
Three Senate Democrats have broke with their colleagues to fund the government, but the rest have been voting against a House-passed resolution to keep the government funded.
For now, Democrats are dug in on their demands for extending healthcare subsidies before they will agree to a funding deal.
Five additional Democratic votes would be needed to reach the 60-vote threshold in the 100-member Senate to green-light the House-passed bill.
