Funding

The continuing government shutdown is uniquely hard on the Soldiers and Airmen of the National Guard. We have thousands of full-time Guardsmen nationwide who wear their uniform and rank every workday but, unlike their active-duty brothers and sisters, they have yet to be paid in October.

The Senate’s version of the annual defense policy bill passed with a critical provision to ensure the Guard has adequate funds needed to repair and maintain equipment used in state emergencies.

President Donald Trump said Saturday that active-duty service members would get paid today, despite the government shutdown that is now in its third week.

NGAUS is leading the charge of National Guard and Reserve associations asking Congress to help pay service members on duty during the government shutdown, which is now in its second week.

Since Congress failed to pass normal appropriations or a stopgap budget before the start of the fiscal year on Tuesday, the federal government is officially shut down.

Three associations that combine to represent all of the nation’s nearly 800,000 National Guardsmen and Reservists are urging congressional leaders to pass fiscal 2026 appropriations for defense, military construction and veterans affairs.

Senate lawmakers hit the ground running Tuesday by voting to proceed to debate on the annual defense policy bill.

House speaker Mike Johnson is set to hold a vote today on a Republican stopgap budget to fund the government through the end of the fiscal year.

Lawmakers are trying to finalize the nation's annual defense policy bill and a separate measure to fund the federal government through March 2025.

NGAUS has requested Congress fund several items in its fiscal 2025 defense appropriations bill that would "significantly impact" the National Guard.

Lawmakers returned to Capitol Hill on Tuesday for a lame-duck session to complete the 118th Congress' business, including addressing the nation's annual defense policy bill and funding the federal government for fiscal 2025.

Fiscal 2025 has begun on a continuing resolution that keeps the federal government open but puts many military modernization programs on hold.