GOP Senators Express Concern Over Shutdown Strategies by Trump and Hegseth

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Republican senators are raising eyebrows over how former President Donald Trump managed to pay over a million military personnel during the recent government shutdown. They are keen to understand which financial resources he utilized to meet this obligation, suspecting he may have sidestepped standard procedures.

While GOP lawmakers are relieved that military service members and their families received their paychecks on October 15, avoiding financial disruption, they express dissatisfaction with what they perceive as Trump’s disregard for Congressional budget authority.

Typically, the White House is required to submit a request to Congress to reallocate federal funds, which must be approved by the Appropriations Committee before any reallocation can occur. This ensures that funds are used as originally intended.

Republican members of the Appropriations Committee claim they were not informed of any official request from the White House to reprogram funds. They were surprised by Trump’s directive to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to use “all available funds” to ensure troops were paid.

One Republican senator who requested anonymity to comment on Trump’s aggressive repurposing of federal funding said the administration didn’t explain its legal authority.

“That’s a concern of not just appropriators; it seems broader than that,” the senator said.

The GOP lawmaker said Republican colleagues have asked the administration for more details about what accounts will be most impacted by shifting funds to pay the troops during the duration of the shutdown and what legal authority the White House is citing to justify its action.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said she’s seeking more information from the White House, both on what funds are being used to cover military paychecks and what programs will see their reserves depleted as a result.

“We’ve been given two different explanations. One is that it’s unobligated balances. One is that it’s taken from certain research and technology programs. But we don’t have the specifics. We have asked for the specifics,” Collins said.

At the same time, Collins, who faces a competitive reelection race next year, added that she’s “glad that the troops are getting paid.”

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said she has concerns about Trump’s repurposing previously appropriated federal funding without input or approval from Congress.

“I get that they say for the military pay for this pay period it comes out of … research and development technology [fund], but where? Is that taking it from projects that we have already identified? Maybe something’s really important to me. Where’s it coming from? We haven’t seen that,” she said.

“Typically, what will happen is you’ll have some kind of reprogramming request,” she said, noting the administration’s departure from standard practice.

Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) told The Hill that she’s not sure whether Trump’s repurposing of funds to pay troops is legal.

Asked what legal authority Trump has used to shift the funding, Murray replied: “I do not know the answer to that question.”

The tug-of-war between Republican appropriators in Congress and Trump’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) over funding authority has been a source of intraparty tension all year.

Some Republican senators were not happy at all when OMB Director Russell Vought submitted a proposal for a pocket rescission in August to claw back nearly $5 billion in foreign aid funding previously appropriated by Congress.

A pocket rescission is designed to rescind federal funding without a vote of Congress, and many lawmakers in both parties say the maneuver is illegal. Vought testified before the Senate earlier this year that he believes Trump has constitutional authority to use it.

Trump announced over the weekend that he would make sure members of the military get paid during the shutdown, which is dragging into its third week.

“I am using my authority, as Commander in Chief, to direct our Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to use all available funds to get our Troops PAID on Oct. 15th,” Trump posted on Truth Social.

“We have identified funds to do this,” he added.

The Pentagon identified $8 billion in unspent research, testing and evaluation money to keep troops paid during the early weeks of the shutdown.

Some Republican senators are worried about what other federal programs the Trump administration will raid when it depletes the unobligated funds it decided to tap into this week.

Trump signed a memorandum Wednesday significantly expanding his administration’s authority to repurpose unspent funds to pay service members during the shutdown.

Democrats immediately questioned whether Trump’s claims of broad authority are lawful.

Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) said Trump’s reallocation of federal funding was “probably not legal.”

In an interview with CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday, Himes said the “White House’s understanding of United States law” was “pretty tentative to say the best.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said Trump is pulling funding for the troops from areas of the budget that will be “replenished” at a later date.

“Where they’re trying to find some of the funding is out of areas of the budget that obviously they will replenish and pay it back,” he said.

“These are the decisions that get forced upon you when the government shuts down, which is why nobody wins with a government shutdown,” he said.

“Here we are, the administration’s having to make some hard decisions. Obviously, paying the troops is a big priority for them. It should be a priority for all of us,” he said.

“The longer this drags on, the more complicated that decision-making process becomes. They obviously are going to make decisions about where to put money, where not to put money and which departments and agencies get prioritized and which don’t,” he said.

Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), a member of the Appropriations Committee who is up for reelection next year and received Trump’s crucial endorsement ahead of the 2026 GOP primary in his state, defended Trump’s use of executive authority to shift around funding to pay military service members.

He said Trump has the authority to repurpose funds “because we’re operating under a continuing resolution right now.”

“The continuing resolution does not have the built-in specifics limiting the movement of funds that an appropriations bill would have,” he said, noting that the funding authority that lapsed on Oct. 1 was provided by a continuing resolution passed in March that extended funding levels enacted under former President Biden.

But other GOP senators are skeptical of that argument.

“I’ve heard that, but I don’t know where that comes from,” said the GOP senator who requested anonymity, raising a question about the precise legal authority for such a claim.

The Hill reached out to the White House for comment.