Washington’s latest political showdown has left our brave troops caught in the crossfire of a government shutdown now dragging into its third week.
As the impasse over federal funding continues, House Republicans on Friday blocked a Democrat-led push to secure military paychecks, intensifying the standoff while active-duty service members face the looming threat of missed wages, Fox News reported.
This saga began weeks ago when the House passed a Republican-backed continuing resolution on Sept. 19, a straightforward plan to maintain government funding at current levels through mid-November, complete with additional security funds for lawmakers and other federal branches.
Despite bipartisan support for the security provisions and no extraneous policy riders, Senate Democrats have shot down this GOP proposal not once, but seven times, keeping the government—and paychecks for millions of federal workers—in limbo.
Democrats, for their part, are holding out for extensions of certain health care subsidies from the pandemic era and a rollback of recent Medicaid reductions, demands that Republicans argue have no place in a stopgap funding measure.
Fast forward to Friday, when Rep. Sarah Elfreth, D-Md., made a bold attempt during a pro forma House session to push through a bill ensuring military pay ahead of the upcoming Oct. 15 paycheck deadline for our troops.
House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Mike Bost, R-Ill., who was presiding over the session, promptly adjourned before Elfreth could even wrap up her request, effectively slamming the door on the proposal.
Under House rules, these pro forma sessions are meant for continuity, allowing brief remarks or legislative introductions, but not full-on legislative action—a technicality that GOP leaders leaned on to dismiss the move.
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., didn’t mince words, calling the Democrats’ effort a political stunt “of gargantuan proportions,” and pointing out, “You can't do that in a pro forma session. So again, it's just to get attention.”
Emmer’s jab isn’t without merit; with the Senate’s track record of rejecting GOP funding plans, even a standalone military pay vote might be dead on arrival, a sentiment echoed by party leadership.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., vented his frustration during a press call, reminding everyone, “By way of reminder, the House passed a clean, nonpartisan CR three weeks ago today to keep the government funded and, by extension, to pay our troops and TSA agents and Border Patrol agents and air traffic controllers and the rest of our federal workforce.”
Johnson’s point cuts deep—while Democrats posture over military pay, it’s their Senate colleagues who’ve repeatedly blocked funding for not just troops, but over 2 million civilian federal workers, a fact that undercuts the moral high ground they’re trying to claim.
Let’s not forget the real victims here: active-duty service members, deemed “essential” and required to keep working through this shutdown, yet facing delayed paychecks until funding is restored, though they’ll eventually get back pay.
Even within GOP ranks, there’s some dissent, with at least two House Republicans, Reps. Jen Kiggans, R-Va., and Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., publicly urging standalone votes to address military compensation, a crack in the party’s united front that shows the weight of this issue.
At the end of the day, this shutdown mess isn’t just about political point-scoring—it’s about ensuring those who defend our nation aren’t left wondering how they’ll pay their bills, and both sides need to stop treating our troops as pawns in a game of partisan chess.
