While the government shutdown drags into a second week with no end in sight, President Donald Trump announced a plan to circumvent the usual rules to ensure that America's military service members get paychecks.
Trump says he directed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to "to use all available funds to get our Troops PAID on October 15th."He also accused Democrats of holding "our Military, and the entire Security of our Nation, HOSTAGE, with their dangerous Government Shutdown."
The government shutdown began on October 1 due to the failure to pass a spending bill. Democrats have refused to vote for the bill unless the Republicans agree to extend Obamacare benefits that would cost millions of Americans if they're revoked by the new budget.
The money in question, per The Hill, is “approximately $8 billion of unobligated research development testing and evaluation funds (RDTE) from the prior fiscal year that will be used to issue mid-month paychecks to service members in the event the funding lapse continues past Oct. 15.”
So, can Trump just decide to write a check while the government is shut down? No one seems to know.
Rep. Jim Himes, D-Connecticut, said Sunday it is “probably not” legal for President Trump to repurpose Defense Department funding in order to pay members of the military during the shutdown.
“Well, probably not. Again, we just had a little conversation about the White House’s understanding of United States law, which is pretty tentative to say the best,” Hines said during an interview Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is against holding a vote on paying the military, arguing that instead that Democrats should vote in support of the overall spending bill, which would fund the government and the military.