As the U.S. government shutdown grinds into its third week, the political standoff in Washington is hitting home for more than 1.3 million active-duty service members—and the pressure is mounting on House Speaker Mike Johnson to act. With the next military payday looming on October 15, 2025, a bipartisan push is building in Congress to ensure troops receive their pay, even as Johnson and Republican leaders hold firm against advancing stand-alone legislation to address the crisis.
The stakes are personal and urgent. On Thursday morning, a military spouse called into C-SPAN, her voice trembling as she pleaded with Speaker Johnson to bring the House back into session and pass legislation guaranteeing military pay. “My kids could die,” she said, describing her family’s reliance on her spouse’s paycheck to cover crucial medical expenses. “You could stop this, and you could be the one that could say the military is getting paid.” According to Courthouse News, Johnson expressed sympathy but remained unmoved, reiterating that the House had already passed a stopgap funding bill three weeks prior. “We already voted to pay the troops,” he insisted. “The Democrats are the ones preventing you from getting a check.”
The political blame game is in full swing. Johnson and his allies argue that Senate Democrats are responsible for the deadlock, having refused to pass the House’s "clean" continuing resolution (CR) that would fund the government through November 21. Democrats, meanwhile, point to Republican inflexibility and accuse them of using military families as pawns in a broader fight over healthcare subsidies and other policy riders. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, as reported by Axios and Courthouse News, has said the situation is improving for Democrats with each passing day of the shutdown, while Republicans insist the opposition is “playing games.”
Behind the scenes, frustration is growing within the Republican ranks. As Axios reports, Johnson’s decision to keep the House on indefinite recess during the shutdown isn’t sitting well with some GOP lawmakers. Representative Jen Kiggans (R-Va.), whose district includes many military families, has introduced the Pay Our Troops Act—a bipartisan bill that would ensure continued pay for service members during the shutdown. The legislation has garnered support from 148 House members, including 104 Republicans and 44 Democrats. “I’m urging the Speaker and our House leadership to immediately pass my bill to ensure our servicemembers, many of whom live paycheck to paycheck while supporting their families, receive the pay they’ve earned,” Kiggans told Axios after Johnson ruled out bringing her bill up for a vote next week.
Other Republicans have also voiced their dismay. Representative John Joyce (R-Penn.) posted on social media, “If Congress fails to do its job, our military shouldn’t pay the price.” Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) questioned why the House wasn’t in session, pointing out that “we could be doing appropriations, passing important bills, and more.” The House hasn’t voted since September 19, when it passed the GOP’s stopgap measure, and Johnson has indicated the chamber will remain out until the Senate acts.
Advocacy groups representing nearly a million National Guard and Reserve members are sounding the alarm as well. In letters to key lawmakers, the National Guard Association of the United States, the Adjutants General Association, the Reserve Organization of America, and the Enlisted Association of the National Guard warned that “asking service members to report for duty with no pay degrades morale and creates hardship on military families.” They urged Congress to “swiftly pass” Kiggans’s bill and its Senate companion.
The looming missed payday would be the first for U.S. troops during a government shutdown in more than a decade. The shutdown has already curtailed some quality-of-life and family readiness programs, further straining military households. Guardsmen and reservists on federal active duty—including those deployed to cities like Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., St. Louis, and Chicago, as well as the U.S.-Mexico border—are also at risk of missing paychecks, according to The Hill.
The issue has even reached the White House. President Trump, when asked by reporters on October 8 if he would encourage Congress to pass a stand-alone military pay bill, replied, “Yeah, that probably will happen.” He added, “Our military is always going to be taken care of.” Yet, as the days tick by, no concrete action has been taken, and the Pentagon has weighed in, with press secretary Kingsley Wilson stating, “While the Department appreciates Congress’ efforts to ensure active-duty service members do not have a gap in their pay, the best action Congress can take is to pass a clean Continuing Resolution and end the Democrat Shutdown so that the entirety of the Department and federal government are at full strength.”
Senate GOP leaders have also expressed opposition to calling the House back to vote on the stand-alone bill. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) criticized Democratic leadership for what he characterized as political maneuvering at the expense of unpaid troops and other federal workers. “This isn’t a game,” Thune declared on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
Meanwhile, Democratic representatives Derek Tran (Calif.) and Gabe Vasquez (N.M.) have pressed Johnson to bring the House back before October 15 to vote on the military pay bill. “Our troops put their lives on the line for our freedom. They have our backs; Congress needs to have theirs. I’m proud to fight for our troops to get the pay that they have earned. It’s not just the right thing to do — it’s essential for the safety of our country,” Tran said, as reported by The Hill.
Despite the mounting bipartisan support and emotional appeals from military families, Johnson remains defiant. He argues that a “duplicative” vote on troop pay would “accomplish nothing” since the Senate would block it anyway. Johnson’s stance is echoed by Michigan Representative Lisa McClain, head of the House Republican Conference, who scoffed at the idea of a separate vote, dismissing it as political theater.
Public opinion on the shutdown is sharply divided. A Reuters/Ipsos poll published Thursday found that 67% of Americans say Republicans deserve a fair amount or great deal of blame for the lapse in funding, while 63% also blame Democrats. The political fallout remains uncertain, but what’s clear is that the real-world consequences are already being felt by military families across the country.
As the October 15 deadline approaches, the question remains: will Congress find a way to break the impasse and ensure those in uniform aren’t left in the lurch? For now, the answer is as elusive as ever, with both parties dug in and the nation’s troops caught in the crossfire.
