Trump’s budget team diverted funds from three Defense Department accounts to ensure U.S. troops are paid on Friday, as the government shutdown nears one month, White House officials told Axios.
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) reportedly scrambled earlier this week to locate roughly $5.3 billion for payroll. The funds were ultimately pieced together from
a military housing fund ($2.5B), the Research, Development, Test and Evaluation fund ($1.4B), typically used for Army and Air Force researchand $1.4B from a Navy procurement account used to build ships.
Officials said Trump remains firm on maintaining the shutdown, signalling no compromise while military pay continues uninterrupted, even as up to 42 million Americans are expected to lose access to food stamp benefits as early as Saturday.
This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at investinglive.com.