Congresswoman Pou Demands House Reopen to Keep Troops Paid

PATERSON, NJ - Congresswoman Nellie Pou (D-NJ-09) today joined 78 House Democrats calling onSpeaker Mike Johnson (R-LA-04) to bring the House back into session to ensure that American service members are fully paid. Currently, if the Republican government shutdown does not end before mid-month, service members will miss a paycheck.

We urge you to bring legislation to pay America's service members to the House floor for a vote in time to ensure military personnel get paid on October 15th. If Congress does not act by October 15th, nearly three million military families will miss their next paycheck. That's unacceptable - our military families and troops deserve better," the House Democrats write the Speaker.

The full text of the members' urgent letteris below.

October 8, 2025

The Honorable Mike Johnson
Speaker of the House
U.S. House of Representatives
The Capitol, H-232
Washington, D.C. 20515

Speaker Johnson,

We urge you to bring legislation to pay America's service members to the House floor for a vote in time to ensure military personnel get paid on October 15th. If Congress does not act by October 15th, nearly three million military families will miss their next paycheck. That's unacceptable - our military families and troops deserve better.

Congress must work across the aisle and in good faith to end this shutdown, find common ground, protect Americans' health care, and ensure there is no undue harm to our service members and their families. While negotiations to re-open the government continue, we encourage you to bring bipartisan, commonsense legislation to the floor to ensure that military service members, as well as civilian personnel and contractors, will continue to receive pay during a government shutdown.

Those who dedicate their lives to serving our country should never have to worry whether they will receive a paycheck, even during a government shutdown. During the 2013 government shutdown, Congress successfully passed the Pay Our Military Act, a similar bill which provided pay for members of the Armed Forces during a government shutdown. There is precedent for bringing legislation to pay our troops up for a vote during a shutdown and a record that shows Congress can come together for the benefit of our service members even while disagreeing on other matters.

The threats from our adversaries do not stop because the federal government shuts down. We have an obligation to take care of our service members and asking them to stand guard without pay is wrong. At a time when one in four military families are already facing food insecurity and struggling to make ends meet, we cannot afford to let dysfunction in Washington hurt our service members and their families.

In particular, junior enlisted service members already face significant financial pressures as some of the lowest paid members of our military. Low base pay, housing and food insecurity, family obligations, and limited opportunities for wealth accumulation means that a government shutdown will disproportionately impact this crucial segment of our military service members.

This is a moment not only to support our troops, but also to show the American people and the world that our service members and our national security are above politics and the bedrock of our nation. We urge you to support America's military members and bring legislation to ensure that there is no disruption in troop pay during this shutdown to the House Floor for a vote immediately.

Sincerely,

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