BREAKING: Vance confirms troops will be paid this week

Vice President JD Vance has said that US miliary service members will be getting their paycheck this week amid the government shutdown. This comes after the GOP attempted to pass a bill last week that would have seen to it that military members and other federal government workers required to work amid the shutdown would also get paid.

“We do think that we can continue paying the troops, at least for now," Vance told reporters after meeting with some GOP senators for lunch. "We’ve got food stamp benefits that are set to run out in a week. We’re trying to keep as much open as possible. We just need the Democrats to actually help us out.”

Vance said that the troops will be paid this upcoming Friday and also slammed Democrats for not voting with the GOP to open the government. “Unfortunately, we’re not going to be able to pay everybody because we’ve been handed a very bad hand by the Democrats," he said.

Earlier in October, the Trump administration made a similar move to pay service members by pulling $8 billion in military research and development accounts in order to cover payroll for the troops. It is not clear where the next funding will come from in order to cover payroll.

The announcement from Vance comes as the country has entered its fourth week with the federal government shut down. The Senate GOP has repeatedly proposed a clean continuing resolution (CR) that would keep funding the government at the current levels before the shutdown. The majority of Democrats, however, have voted against the measure each time. They have proposed their own CR with multiple provisions that would extend subsidies from Obamacare that were set to expire this year as well as provisions that would increase the amount of federal funds that can cover the healthcare expenses of illegal immigrants.