Yesterday, Politico’s Meredith Lee Hill and Mia McCarthy stated that House Speaker Mike Johnson was trying to pressure Democrats by ruling out a standalone bill to pay US troops during the shutdown. It’s unclear how that is supposed to pressure them, as he would be the one blocking their pay. Today a Democratic bill to pay the troops was blocked by Republicans.
That Democrat effort gives lie to a claim made by an anonymous Trump administration official. Another Politico report from Diana Nerozzi, quoted the official as saying “[n]o bill at this time, unfortunately. No sense running legislation to a chamber the Democrats have shut down.” Democrats haven’t shut down either chamber of Congress and Democrats have actually put forward a bill to pay the troops.
There is another method pay them, tariff money. That would be one of the many things that tariff is money is supposed to be used for. The process of using that food aid seemed to be running into problems according to a report by Politico’s Marcia Brown. Diana Nerozzi’s story suggested that might be on the table for paying the troops. The top Senate Republican was expecting that this would happen, instead of putting forward a bill to address this. The next pay date is October 15, giving the Trump administration limited time to address this themselves.
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