Vice President Vance on Saturday told the U.S. Marine Corps members gathered at Camp Pendleton in California that they will get paid despite the government shutdown.
Vance, appearing with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and second lady Usha Vance, gave remarks at the Marine Corps’ 250th anniversary celebration.
“I bring greetings today from our commander in chief, Donald J. Trump, and he wanted me to tell each and every single one of you that he’s proud of you, that he loves you,” Vance said. “And despite the Schumer shutdown, he is going to do everything he can to make sure you get paid exactly what you deserve.”
Met with cheers and applause, Vance added that he had “to get just a little political, because congressional Democrats seem to want to keep the government shut down, even though it would mean that a lot of you would not get your paychecks.”
Vance said he told the president that the administration needs to “figure out how to pay these Marines, both for their sake, but also, of course … because if we don’t pay our enlisted Marines, every bar in Southern California is going to go out of business.”
Senate Republicans have had questions about how Trump will pay more than 1 million military service members and what funding will go toward them. Trump recently ordered Hegseth to use “all available funds” to ensure the troops got their paychecks earlier this week.
On Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) put a vote on the calendar for next week on a bill to pay service members. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), would ensure service members are paid during the shutdown once unobligated funds identified by the administration run out.
Democrats have remained steadfast in negotiating an extension on soon-to-expire health care tax credits before agreeing to reopen the government.
