Oct. 26 (UPI) — U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday that military personnel will start missing paychecks by Nov. 15 if the government shutdown continues.
“I think we’ll be able to pay them beginning in November, but by Nov. 15 our troops and service members who are willing to risk their lives aren’t going to be able to get paid,” Bessent said in an interview with CBS News’ “Face the Nation.”
The government shutdown, which began Oct. 1 and has lasted for 26 days, is among the longest major shutdowns on record, underscoring the depth of the political impasse between Republicans and Democrats in Washington.
Democrats, led by Schumer and Jeffries, have said they won’t support any bill to reopen the government unless it provides an extension of the currently enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits scheduled to expire. Republicans have said they are only willing to discuss healthcare issues when the government reopens.
As a temporary fix for military pay, President Donald Trump earlier this month ordered the Pentagon to redirect money intended for research and development to issue paychecks.
Then on Friday, the U.S. Defense Department confirmed that an anonymous Trump ally had donated $130 million to help pay military personnel, raising questions about its legality.
The identity of the donor was revealed Saturday as Timothy Mellon by The New York Times, citing anonymous sources.
Mellon, a billionaire, is a descendant of Gilded Age banking titan Thomas Mellon and grandson of Andrew Mellon, one of the longest-serving treasury secretaries in U.S. history. He has been a major donor to the Republican Party since Trump was first elected in 2016.
“The donation was made on the condition that it be used to offset the cost of service members’ salaries and benefits,” Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman, said in a statement.
The donation, which is not enough to pay all military personnel, may violate the Anti-Deficiency Act, which prohibits federal agencies from spending more than Congress has appropriated for them.
While the government can accept such funds, their use still has to be appropriated by Congress to pay government salaries.
Bessent called the risk to military paychecks amid the shutdown an “embarrassment” while placing the blame on Democrats.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Sunday that Democrats need action from Republicans, not a “wing and a prayer promise” that their healthcare concerns would be addressed.
“Which is why we continue to demand that Republicans sit at the negotiating table so we can enact a spending agreement that’s bipartisan in nature,” Jeffries told CBS News on Sunday. “That’s what we’ve called for from the very beginning.”
