Top GOP defense appropriator breaks with Johnson on shutdown troop pay

[Thiệu Ngô]

The rare move ratchets up the pressure on Speaker Mike Johnson over his shutdown strategy.

By Benjamin Guggenheim and Meredith Lee Hill

Rep. Ken Calvert, the House Republican in charge of defense funding, is throwing his weight behind a bipartisan bill that would allow members of the military to get paid during the government shutdown.

It’s something of an act of defiance against GOP leaders who are now intimating they won’t allow a vote on such a measure, arguing it’s Democrats who are holding troop pay hostage by blocking passage of a clean stopgap spending bill in the Senate that includes the servicemember salaries.

The California Republican quietly signed his name Wednesday onto the legislation, which was introduced by Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-Va.) in mid-September but has been steadily picking up steam since the shutdown began Oct. 1.

Other senior Republicans have become co-sponsors following the start of the shutdown, including National Republican Congressional Committee Chair Richard Hudson of North Carolina and House Administration Chair Bryan Steil of Wisconsin. The legislation as of Thursday morning has a total of 148 cosponsors, 104 of them Republican.

But Calvert’s support, in his capacity as chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, is significant: It’s a highly unusual step for a senior appropriator to seemingly buck leadership in this manner, and Calvert oversees the annual funding bill for military operations.

“Unlike every California Democrat in Congress, I voted to pay our troops, our TSA agents, and federal law enforcement,” Calvert posted on social media earlier in the day Wednesday, before making his support for the Kiggans bill public. “If you see these heroes, thank them for the job they’re doing during this shutdown and amidst uncertainty with their pay. I will continue to support them.”

Both Democrats and Republicans are blaming the other side for closing down the government — and, with no signs of the standoff ending anytime soon, the Oct. 15 date is fast approaching where military troops are due to miss their first paycheck since the shutdown began.

Congressional GOP leaders want their members to hold the line and force Democrats to vote to fully reopen the government rather than making piecemeal concessions that could lower the stakes for the minority party to play ball.

But pro-military Republicans — and vulnerable 2026 incumbents, like Calvert — will increasingly face pressure from their constituents to act on the issue. And some of these members are, in turn, dialing up the pressure on their leadership. The dynamic is especially tricky for Speaker Mike Johnson. He insisted Wednesday that he will not bring the House back from its recess to vote on the troop pay bill ahead of the first military paycheck deadline.

Johnson also declined to answer a question over whether he would try to pass the legislation via unanimous consent — a maneuver that would not require lawmakers to return to Washington from the current recess but could be derailed with a single objection from any one member in the House who is present.

Republicans close to leadership say there are no plans to attempt this gambit.

“We’ve already had that vote. The job in the House is done,” Johnson said, referring to the House-passed, seven-week funding patch that the Senate has been unable to clear.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said in a recent interview with Fox News that “at some point” when Americans realize it’s Democrats who are blocking the troop pay, “this is going to hit home.”

“That’s exactly what’s going to happen here in a couple of weeks if something doesn’t change,” Thune added.

House Democratic leadership believes a standalone troop pay measure would pass with large Democratic support if it goes to the floor, according to two people with direct knowledge of the conversations.

As many as 70 House Democrats are preparing a letter to Johnson calling for such a vote, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is also backing the effort.

Separately, White House officials are considering a variety of options for President Donald Trump to shift funds around to pay troops without congressional action, if needed, as POLITICO first reported.

Trump, according to White House officials, will not allow the troop pay to lapse, even if Congress fails to act.