Will military get paid in a government shutdown?

WASHINGTON —Military officials prepared Friday to cut pay for troops and civilians, and close offices and activities deemed not essential to national security as the deadline nears for the government shutdown that is expected to begin at 12:01 a.m. Sunday.

Troops will remain deployed to hotspots around the world, and civilians in critical chair-borne commands at the Pentagon and elsewhere will remain on job. But none will be paid unless an agreement on government spending or legislation authorizing military pay is reached.

President Joe Biden said Friday that the failure to pay troops would be a “disgrace.”

“We can’t be playing politics while our troops stand in the breach,” Biden said at the retirement ceremony for Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

At the Pentagon, officials issued dire warnings about the shutdown.

“If there is a shutdown in just a few days, our service members would be required to continue working but would be doing so without pay, and hundreds and thousands of their civilian colleagues would be furloughed,” Sabrina Singh, the Pentagon’s deputy press secretary, told reporters Thursday. “A government shutdown is a worst-case scenario for the department, so we continue to ask Congress to do its job and fund the government.”

The shutdown means paychecks issued to troops Friday will be the last they’ll receive until a resolution is reached, said Chris Sherwood, a Pentagon spokesperson.

The Pentagon will stop moving troops to jobs on new posts in most cases, Sherwood said.

Prior to the 2018 partial government shutdown, the Pentagon identified some essential functions that would continue including: military operations, and the command, control and intelligence gathering functions required to keep the nation safe. Recruiting was also deemed essential along with law enforcement, fire protection and counseling for sexual assault victims and those contemplating suicide.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Will the military get paid in October? Government shutdown casts doubt