President Donald Trump announced that military personnel and FBI agents will continue to receive pay under the ongoing government shutdown that has halted pay for nearly all federal workers.
The White House said that pay for military personnel will come from leftover funds appropriated by Congress for fiscal year 2026 spending. However, FBI Director Kash Patel has not specified what the source of funding will be to fund agents’ paychecks.
The move came in an effort to fund military personnel’s mid-month paycheck, with reports saying that around $8 billion was identified from the previous fiscal year to fund those checks.
Without those payments, President Trump said that it presented “a serious and unacceptable threat to military readiness and the ability of our Armed Forces to protect and defend our Nation.”
In previous shutdowns, Congress has passed special laws to pay service members, making it unusual for the White House to step in and allocate those payments.
Following the Oct. 1 shutdown, agencies began putting thousands of workers on furlough while requiring essential employees to continue working without regular paychecks, but with the expectation of receiving back pay once the shutdown ends.
The Trump administration has since implied its intentions to withhold that pay, despite a law signed by President Trump during his first administration requiring that payments be made retroactively to furloughed workers.
“The FBI Agents Association thanks President Trump for ensuring that FBI Special Agents will continue to be paid during the government shutdown,” said the FBI Agents Association in a statement. “This effort reflects the essential role FBI Agents play in protecting the American people.”
The association noted that while agents continue to receive pay, its analysts and other personnel are not receiving checks, adding that those other roles “play a vital role in confronting threats from terrorism and cyberattacks to violent crime and corruption,” urging for an end to the shutdown.
Historically, FBI agents have also not received pay alongside all other federal workers.
Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security pointed out in a press release on Wednesday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents continue to not receive payments.
The Trump administration has threatened to permanently cut employees if the shutdown continues, already laying off over 4,000 employees across eight agencies, according to court documents. Ultimately, a federal judge temporarily blocked those layoffs, saying that they are likely illegal and politically motivated.