Vice President JD Vance said he expects the Trump administration to continue paying U.S service members as the government shutdown nears the one-month mark.
Vance told reporters during a visit to Capitol Hill on Tuesday that the Department of War (DOW) is working to identify new funding to pay the troops, but acknowledged that the administration could not tap enough money to cover all federal workers missing their salaries due to the shutdown. President Donald Trump previously directed the DOW to reshuffle $8 billion in unused funding to ensure that active-duty military personnel did not miss a paycheck in mid-October. (RELATED: Independent Women Urges Dem Leadership To End Government Shutdown)
“We do think that we can continue paying the troops at least for now,” Vance said following a meeting with Senate Republicans. “But we’ve got food stamp benefits that are set to run out in a week. We’re trying to keep as much open as possible. We just need the Democrats to actually help us out.”
The shutdown would end if just five additional Senate Democrats crossed party lines to support a House-passed bipartisan stopgap bill. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and a majority of Democratic lawmakers voted against that measure for the 13th time Tuesday afternoon.
Vance did not explain how the administration planned to cover military personnel’s salaries for another pay period. If the Trump administration were not able to tap unused funding and the government is still closed, it would be the first time in American history that active-duty military personnel have missed a paycheck.
The White House did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
WASHINGTON, DC – OCTOBER 28: U.S. Vice President JD Vance talks with reporters after attending the weekly Senate Republican policy luncheon on the 28th day of the federal government shutdown at the U.S. Capitol on October 28, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Military families have faced weeks of financial stress from the prospect of missing a paycheck during the 28-day shutdown.
The Independent Women group sent letters to top Democratic leaders on Tuesday detailing firsthand accounts of Americans impacted by the funding lapse, the Daily Caller first reported. One letter mentions a Virginia military wife who said her family will not have enough money for food if her husband does not receive his paycheck this Friday.
Hundreds of thousands of federal employees, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and air traffic controllers, are also reporting to work without pay during the shutdown. The American Federation of Government Employees, the nation’s largest federal workers’ union representing roughly 800,000 employees, has urged Democrats to end the shutdown to no avail.
The Pentagon reportedly accepted a $130 million donation to partially cover military personnel’s pay during the funding lapse. Though President Donald Trump said the unnamed donor wished to remain anonymous, The New York Times first reported the benefactor to be Timothy Mellon, heir to the Mellon banking fortune.
Mellon is one of Trump’s largest donors and doled out $50 million in support of his 2024 presidential campaign.
“He doesn’t want publicity,” Trump told the press aboard Air Force One while en route to Malaysia on Friday. “He prefers that his name not be mentioned, which is pretty unusual in the world I come from, and in the world of politics, you want your name mentioned.”
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