Military veterans in Congress clash over government shutdown as troops face missed paychecks

FIRST ON FOX: A group of House GOP veterans are pressing Senate Democrats who also served in the military to support Republicans’ federal funding bill and end the government shutdown.

U.S. troops are poised to miss their first paycheck of the ongoing shutdown on Oct. 15 with Republicans and Democrats still not able to agree on a path forward by next week.

“We are a group of military veterans now serving in the House of Representatives who voted YES for the House’s September 19th Continuing Resolution. We write to you, fellow Veterans now serving in the United States Senate, who have voted NO on that same resolution multiple times. We hope you receive this letter in the manner in which it is intended: as brothers and sisters in arms, not as partisans,” a letter sent on Saturday read.

“This short-term measure contains no cuts, no policy riders, and no gimmicks. It simply keeps the government open while giving Congress time to responsibly negotiate the twelve long-term appropriations bills. Most importantly, it ensures that our troops, the same men and women with whom we once served, continue to receive their pay without interruption.”

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The Senate would need to pass the House GOP’s funding bill by Monday, Oct. 13, for military paychecks to go out on time the following Wednesday, according to Military Times.

But the Senate will likely not be in session because Monday is a federal holiday, meaning the next earliest possible vote is Tuesday.

Active duty service members, like other federal employees deemed essential, must keep working through a government shutdown.

The possibility of them missing their next paychecks has become a particularly painful flashpoint in the standoff on government funding.

The Senate has now rejected the House-passed measure — a bill that would keep spending roughly on par with fiscal year (FY) 2025 levels through Nov. 21, called a continuing resolution (CR) — seven times.

It passed the House along mostly partisan lines on Sept. 19. But Democrats in the House and Senate were largely infuriated by being sidelined in federal funding talks and are now demanding any spending deal also include an extension of COVID-19 pandemic-era enhanced Obamacare subsidies that are set to expire at the end of this year.

Republican leaders who control the House and Senate have said they are willing to hold negotiations on those subsidies, but have insisted the CR must be “clean” without any policy riders. CRs are aimed at giving congressional negotiators more time to strike a longer-term funding deal for FY2026, which began on Oct. 1.

“This short-term measure contains no cuts, no policy riders, and no gimmicks. It simply keeps the government open while giving Congress time to responsibly negotiate the twelve long-term appropriations bills. Most importantly, it ensures that our troops, the same men and women with whom we once served, continue to receive their pay without interruption,” the Saturday letter said.

“We understand that you oppose certain policies in the One Big Beautiful Bill and that you have strong preferences regarding the future of the Affordable Care Act credits. We respect that you have those priorities. But for the sake of our troops, we ask that you vote for the continuing resolution and assert those policy preferences during subsequent discussions and debates that do not interrupt troop pay.”

It’s being led by Rep. Nick LaLota, R-N.Y., a military veteran, and is signed by 21 other House Republicans who also served.  The letter is addressed to seven Senate Democrat military veterans who have all voted against the CR.

At the current vote tallies, just five more Democrats are needed to cross the aisle and support the CR for it to overcome the Senate filibuster and move to a final vote.

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The letter is being sent after Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., faced increasing pressure from Republicans and Democrats to hold a vote next week on a standalone bill to ensure troops are paid.

But Johnson has all but rejected the idea, arguing the onus is on Senate Democrats to pass the GOP-led funding bill that would let the military and others in the federal government get their paychecks on time.

Federal workers who miss paychecks during the government shutdown are normally entitled to receive that money as backpay when the shutdown is over.