Vice President JD Vance said military members will continue receiving their pay amid the government shutdown, suggesting to reporters Tuesday that President Donald Trump has identified new funding to avoid a first-ever lapse in troop pay.
“We believe that we can continue to pay the troops on Friday,” he said after addressing a closed-door Senate GOP lunch. “Unfortunately, we’re not going to be able to pay everybody, because we’ve been handed a very bad hand by the Democrats.”
“This is one of the reasons why you’ve seen some layoffs in the federal workforce. We do think that we can continue paying the troops, at least for now,” he added
Vance also said that the White House is working to keep “as much open as possible,” including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the federal food aid program that is set to run out of cash at the end of the week. He said the White House is “exploring all options” to ensure food benefits flow and military members get paid, he said, noting it would be easier if Democrats voted to open the government.
“There are limitations on all these funds. There are limitations on how you can use them,” Vance said. “Obviously, it’s a limited pot of money, so even if you use them for one thing, that means you can’t use them for another.”
Vance, according to Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), did not discuss paying the military or SNAP funding during the closed-door lunch. The Pentagon made payments to active duty troops earlier this month by tapping a Defense Department research and development account. The White House has not released details about how the upcoming paychecks will be funded.
Republican senators were more interested in talking about another issue: President Donald Trump’s plan to import beef from Argentina, according to five senators in the room.
Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) said Republicans gave Vance an “earful,” but two other senators, who were granted anonymity to describe the private meeting, said Vance gave no indication Trump is going to change his strategy on beef imports.
Vance’s lunch with Senate Republicans comes on the 28th day of the shutdown, starting shortly after Democrats once again rejected a House-passed bill that would fund the government through Nov. 21.
Vance stressed to GOP senators in the room to stay united and force Democrats to reopen the full government. He counseled against passing narrow “rifle shot” exemptions to the shutdown, according to one GOP senator who attended.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune ruled out votes on those narrower bills in comments to reporters after the lunch.
“This piecemeal approach where you do one-off here, one-off there … that is the wrong way to do this,” Thune said. “That’s not the way to approach this.”
Vance also sent a message to GOP senators to stand behind Trump’s tariff campaign ahead of a series of votes this week that would undermine recent duties levied on Brazil, Canada and other countries. Vance said he told Republican senators that the tariffs “give us the ability to put American workers first” — though he added that he recognized there is “a diversity of opinions” among Republicans on the matter.
Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) said Vance’s message was that “we should stick together” and that “the president’s working to get better trade deals, and he’s having real success.”
Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.
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