For the first time in American history, active-duty U.S. service members are on the brink of missing a paycheck as the government shutdown enters its second week \u2013 a direct consequence, Republican leaders say, of Senate Democrats\u2019 refusal to pass a clean stopgap funding bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Roughly 1.3 million active-duty troops have continued reporting for duty since the shutdown began on October 1, but with Congress at an impasse, the Pentagon has warned that paychecks scheduled for next week will not be issued unless lawmakers act swiftly to restore government funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Senate Democrats, led by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, have rejected a House-passed continuing resolution that would temporarily fund the government, insisting instead on additional spending measures that Republicans have refused to endorse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Top Democrats have shifted blame toward the GOP, claiming that Republicans are responsible for the budget stalemate. But Republicans argue that Democrats are deliberately prolonging the shutdown for political gain \u2013 at the expense of military families and federal workers across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not in a good mood here in the Capitol. It\u2019s a somber day,\u201d House Speaker Mike Johnson said during a Friday press conference. \u201cToday marks the first day that federal workers across America will receive only a partial paycheck thanks to Democrats\u2019 obstruction. This is the last paycheck that 700,000 federal workers will see until Washington Democrats decide to do their job and reopen the government.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cStarting next week, American service members, many of whom live paycheck to paycheck, will miss a full paycheck,\u201d Johnson warned. \u201cIf Democrats don\u2019t end this shutdown by Monday, the October 15th pay date will pass us by.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Senate Minority Whip John Thune echoed the sentiment, calling the potential lapse in military pay \u201cbeyond the pale\u201d and \u201cunacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
President Donald Trump, according to House leaders, is reviewing possible emergency measures to ensure service members are paid despite the funding gap. A senior White House official told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the administration is \u201cexploring every legal option available\u201d to get paychecks out during what it has dubbed the \u201cDemocrat Shutdown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, the uncertainty has triggered a wave of hardship among military families. Charitable organizations such as Blue Star Families and the Army Emergency Relief Fund have seen record-breaking requests for financial assistance in recent days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kathy Roth-Douquet, CEO of Blue Star Families, told CNN that fewer than one in three military families have as much as $3,000 in emergency savings. The Army\u2019s official charity has already approved more than $7 million in aid to help soldiers facing missed paychecks, while the Air Force\u2019s relief fund has received thousands of new applications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sean Ryan, a spokesperson for Army Emergency Relief, said the organization has processed over 6,000 new account requests since October 8. \u201cWe are prepared for $50 million but will make adjustments as needed if more is required,\u201d he said. The surge in traffic even caused the organization\u2019s online portal to crash earlier this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Democrats, however, continue to insist that the shutdown is a Republican creation. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries accused the GOP of playing politics with military pay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey\u2019re not serious about reopening the government. Republicans aren\u2019t even serious about paying our active-duty troops,\u201d Jeffries told reporters Friday. \u201cDemocrats are ready, willing, and able to sit down with our Republican colleagues to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credit, address the GOP\u2019s health care crisis, reopen the government, pay our troops, and enact a spending agreement that makes life better for the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet despite his rhetoric, Jeffries and nearly all House Democrats have repeatedly voted against the clean stopgap funding bill that would have kept the government open and ensured timely pay for troops and federal workers alike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Senator Thune and other Republican leaders have urged rank-and-file Democrats to break from Schumer and vote to end the shutdown. \u201cAll that has to happen is we pick up the bill off the Senate desk,\u201d Thune said during an interview with PBS NewsHour. \u201cIf just five Democrats join us in addition to those who already have, the government opens again, everyone gets paid, and this unnecessary pain ends.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the political standoff grinds on, the stakes could not be higher. For millions of Americans \u2013 from soldiers stationed abroad to families relying on federal paychecks \u2013 Washington\u2019s gridlock is no longer a partisan talking point. It\u2019s a crisis that threatens their livelihoods.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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