Breaking: Trump Pulled It Off – Military to Be Paid Friday Despite Both Shutdown and Dems Refusing to Approve Exception for Military Pay

President Donald Trump has pulled it off again — despite the best efforts of the Democrats to force military families to go without in order to “win the shutdown.”

NBC News confirmed late Thursday that Trump’s Department of War will pay troops on Friday in spite of the month-long shuttering of the federal government.

This means the Pentagon hasn’t missed a pay period for service members despite the Democrats refusing to pass a clean continuing resolution that would open the government until the White House and Republicans agree to their demands on health care.

From NBC News:

Service members are considered essential federal employees and are required to work during funding lapses, but essential workers typically aren’t paid during shutdowns.

About $2.5 billion from the military housing fund part of President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, enacted this year, will be tapped for Friday’s paychecks, according to the OMB official. In addition, $1.4 billion from the Pentagon’s research and development account and $1.4 billion from its procurement account will be used, the official said.

That would bring the total to about $5.3 billion, which is still less than the $6.5 billion that was drawn upon to pay for troops’ paychecks earlier this month. It’s unclear why there’s a difference in the amounts, and the OMB official didn’t respond to a request for comment on that particular point.

The potential move was initially reported by Axios on Thursday afternoon; the outlet noted that “Democrats and liberal policy experts have accused the president of illegally usurping Congress’ powers to appropriate money, but Trump and his congressional allies believe their opponents won’t sue over work-arounds to pay the military because it would be too unpopular.”

“President Trump is continuing to make good on his promise to take care of the troops despite the fact Democrats have shut down the government and are fine with our bravest men and women getting no pay,” a Pentagon official said to NBC News.

A White House official said that the Trump administration has “identified more money if this goes longer” to ensure the troops get paid.

This comes as 30 days into the shutdown, Democrats still won’t pass a clean continuing resolution to fund the government despite 13 separate votes to do it in the Senate.

Because of the filibuster rule, despite the fact that there are 55 votes — a majority — to re-open, the Democrats are desperate for a win. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer also remembers that he basically almost lost his job in the spring when he capitulated to reality and didn’t shut down the government because such moves are fiscally irresponsible and usually don’t score electoral points.

Schumer likes his job more than reality, however, and so do other Democrats. They figured they could squeeze the White House by making sure the men and women who defend America don’t get paychecks with the rest of the government workers.

They were wrong, and Trump has come through — twice now — in a way that feels nothing short of legendary.

And now the Democrats aren’t just feeling the pressure from the White House or Republicans. Even organized labor — specifically, the American Federation of Government Employees — is telling the Democrats that enough is enough.

“It’s time to pass a clean continuing resolution and end this shutdown today,” the union, which represents 800,000 government employees, said in a statement.

Some Democrats now say they want a partial reopening, but a senior administration official told Axios that Trump “won’t negotiate with hostage-takers in Congress because it inspires more hostage-taking.”

Which leaves but one option, enumerated by Senate Majority Leader John Thune: “We need five Democrats to show a little courage,” Thune said on Oct. 23, according to CBS News. “Reopen the government and let’s get to work.”

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