US President Donald Trump announced that he has ordered the payment of military salaries next week despite the ongoing government shutdown.

Trump said he instructed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to “use all available funds to pay our armed forces on October 15,” again blaming the Democrats for the funding crisis now in its second week.

He wrote on his Truth Social platform, “I will not allow the Democrats to hold our military and the entire security of our nation hostage through their dangerous government shutdown.”

With no end in sight to the shutdown, Republicans and Democrats continue to exchange accusations over who is responsible for the crisis, and Trump’s message regarding the military has intensified the political dispute.

This confrontation has led to hundreds of thousands of government employees being placed on temporary unpaid leave or deemed essential and ordered to work without pay.

The shutdown threatens to withhold pay for about 1.3 million active-duty military personnel next Wednesday, something unprecedented in any previous US government shutdown.

Trump’s directive to ensure military pay came after the White House announced on Friday the start of mass federal employee furloughs, as the president seeks to increase pressure on the Democrats.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer accused the Republicans of “preferring to see thousands of Americans lose their jobs rather than sit down and negotiate with the Democrats to reopen the government.”

Unions representing 800,000 government workers have asked a federal judge in San Francisco to issue an emergency order to halt the furloughs, ahead of a hearing scheduled for October 16 on the legality of these actions.

Republicans propose extending the current budget at the same spending levels, while Democrats call for extending health insurance support for low-income families.

Passing the budget requires several Democratic votes despite the Republican majority in Congress.