Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday the United States will not be able to pay service members by the middle of next month if the government shutdown is prolonged.
“We were able to pay the military employees from excess funds at the Pentagon, middle of this month. I think we’ll be able to pay them beginning in November,” Bessent told CBS News’s Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation.”
“But by Nov. 15, our troops and service members who are willing to risk their lives aren’t going to be able to get paid. What an embarrassment,” he added.
On Friday, President Trump praised a donor who gave $130 million to the Defense Department to pay service members who missed a paycheck as the government shutdown stretched into its fourth week.
“He’s a great gentleman,” Trump previously told reporters. “He’s a patron.”
“He’s obviously a very substantial man, and he contributed $130 million for the military in order to make up any difference, so he wanted to see the military get paid,” he continued. “So did I. And he’s a wonderful man.”
Senate Democrats on Thursday blocked a GOP bill to pay active-duty members of the military and other essential federal employees who have had to work amid the government shutdown.
Democrats blocked the bill on a mostly party-line 54-45 vote, with 60 votes needed to advance.
Earlier this month, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) blamed Democrats for a looming pay hiatus for military personnel, noting that seven Senate votes failed to pass his stopgap funding bill.
“HR 5371 (the Continuing Resolution) is the bill to pay our troops. No one in the military or any military family should have their pay blocked on October 15!” Johnson said on the social platform X at the time.
