As the nation heads into its second month without government funding, President Trump has once again pulled off what the career politicians in Washington said couldn’t be done. While Democrats continue to play political games with the livelihoods of federal workers, Trump found a way to make sure America’s military—the men and women who actually keep this country safe—get paid on time and in full:
According to an official with the White House Office of Management and Budget, the Trump administration will ensure that military personnel receive their paychecks on Friday by using a combination of legislative and Defense Department funds.
This marks the second time the administration has stepped in to protect service members’ pay during the Schumer Shutdown, now dragging into its 30th day. Under normal circumstances, “essential” federal employees — including members of the armed forces — are required to work through funding lapses without pay. But unlike the bureaucrats in Washington who created this mess, Trump made sure America’s troops won’t suffer because of it.
The message from the White House couldn’t be clearer: President Trump is committed to keeping essential parts of the government running, no matter how hard Democrats try to weaponize the shutdown for political gain. While they’re busy inflicting pain on everyday Americans to score points with their base, Trump is focused on protecting the people who actually keep this country functioning.
Never forget what Democrats have said about this shutdown, which they own:
SENATE MINORITY LEADER CHUCK SCHUMER
“Every day gets better for us.”
HOUSE DEMOCRAT WHIP KATHERINE CLARK
“Of course there will be families that are going to suffer… but it is one of the few leverage times we have.”
HOUSE DEMOCRAT CAUCUS CHAIR PETE AGUILAR
“We understand this is not easy, and this is going to be painful…”
DEMOCRAT SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS
“If you reopen the government, we lose our leverage”
DEMOCRAT SENATOR CHRIS COONS
“… Frankly this is our only moment of leverage and although a very unpleasant tool to use…”
DEMOCRAT REP. EMILIA SYKES
“We know that people are going to suffer if we don’t open the government… And I’m just going to make it as plain as possible: people will go hungry.”
DEMOCRAT SENATOR SHELDON WHITEHOUSE
[Shutting down the government is] “the only lever we have,”
SENATE DEMOCRAT SOURCE
“We would have enough votes if people were not terrified of getting the guillotine.”
UNNAMED DEMOCRAT SENATOR
“’People are going to get hammered’ if they vote for the House-passed bill to reopen the government.”
For the record, the military has gone without pay during past shutdowns. In 1877, America’s troops served five long months without a paycheck because Congress was gridlocked over Reconstruction.
So you’d think the left could at least acknowledge the effort President Trump is making to ensure today’s soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and Guardians don’t face the same fate. Instead, they’re whining that it’s “illegal.”
And, of course, when Democrats need someone to spin anti-Trump hysteria under the guise of “legal analysis,” they always turn to their favorite echo chamber — Lawfaremedia.org, where every creative stretch of the law somehow leads back to “Orange Man Bad”:
How, then, were the troops paid?
The answer is troubling. To make these payments, President Trump used research and development (R&D) money that the Department of Defense had left over from last fiscal year—an action that was patently illegal.
In addition to being illegal, the move was also unnecessary. There is overwhelming support in Congress to enact legislation to pay the military. But instead of taking the legal, straightforward path to paying the troops (as in the 2013 Obama shutdown, when a law was enacted to pay the troops on the eve of the shutdown), the Trump administration opted for an illegal strategy because Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) had adjourned the House of Representatives on Sept. 19, sending its members home and refusing to reopen the House for business. (Note that no action was required to pay the military during either the 1995 Clinton shutdown or the 2018-2019 Trump shutdown because in each case the defense appropriations bill had already been enacted.
The writer — a predictable functionary of the so-called “Autopen-Harris” White House — peddles the usual hysteria, warning that the Republic and Western civilization itself will collapse unless Democrats inflict maximum pain on Americans.
He then tries to scapegoat Speaker Mike Johnson for failing to pass a standalone bill to pay the troops — a blatant lie. The Senate did in fact see such a bill introduced, and Democrats refused to support it:
Senate Democrats blocked a Republican-sponsored bill Thursday to pay active-duty members of the military and other essential federal employees who have been required to work during the government shutdown.
Democrats blocked the Shutdown Fairness Act of 2025, sponsored by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), in a mostly party-line 54-45 vote. It needed 60 votes to advance.
The ‘lawfare’ former Biden functionary rant continued:
Across billions of dollars of impoundments, Antideficiency Act violations (including the largest in history), purpose statute violations, taking down the apportionment website (it is currently back online after a court case), and other actions, the Trump administration has seemingly undertaken the most illegal set of budgetary actions in history. Guardrails, new civil penalties, and expanded judicial standing are needed to restrain and penalize the White House’s budget malfeasance.
This shutdown standoff comes down to one thing — the Democrats. They were offered a clean continuing resolution to keep the government running, but that wasn’t enough. By their own admission, they’re using the shutdown as a weapon to make Americans suffer until they get what they want.
If there’s a constitutional crisis here, it isn’t coming from the White House or Congress’s Republican leadership — it’s coming from the Democrats’ refusal to act like responsible lawmakers. They’ve become a disloyal fifth column within their own government, more interested in inflicting political and economic pain than in serving the country they claim to love.
Back to the main point — I honestly hope Congressional Democrats decide to push the narrative that “Trump broke the law to pay the troops.” I’d love to see that line plastered across television ads and social media feeds. Because once Americans realize what Democrats are actually arguing — that paying and feeding our troops is somehow wrong — the backlash will be brutal.
They haven’t thought it through. The optics of standing against the men and women who serve this country, just to score political points against Trump, will be an unmitigated disaster for them.
