Active-duty service members are on the verge of missing their next paycheck due to Senate Democrats voting to keep the government shuttered indefinitely.
U.S. service members were already temporarily reporting to work without the certainty of being paid on time since the shutdown began on Oct. 1, but the 1.3 million active-duty troops are are likely to miss their first paycheck as the funding lapse drags on through next week. Top Democrats claimed Friday that the onus is on Republicans to prevent a pay lapse, but Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and a majority of his caucus have repeatedly rejected a clean funding measure to reopen the government.
Republican leaders have sharply criticized their Democratic counterparts for embracing the shutdown despite mounting fallout for military families. Hundreds of thousands of federal workers also received a partial paycheck on Friday due to the lapse in government funding.
“We’re not in a good mood here in the Capitol. It’s a somber day,” Speaker Mike Johnson said during a House GOP leadership press conference on Friday. “Today marks the first day federal workers across America will receive a partial paycheck thanks to Democrats’ obstruction to the system here. This is the last paycheck that 700,000 federal workers will see until Washington Democrats decide to do their job and reopen the government.”
“Starting next week, American service members, many of whom live paycheck-to-paycheck, are going to miss a full paycheck,” Johnson continued. “If Democrats don’t end this paycheck by Monday, then that October 15th [pay] date will pass us by.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune on Thursday also slammed the prospect of the Democrat shutdown forcing military personnel to miss a paycheck as “beyond the pale.”
The looming pay lapse will be the first time in American history that active-duty troops miss a paycheck.
Source: Daily Caller