FBI agents will get paid despite government shutdown, Patel says

Washington — The Trump administration will continue paying FBI agents despite the ongoing government shutdown that has frozen paychecks for nearly all federal workers, FBI Director Kash Patel announced Wednesday.

"You've found a way to get these individuals paid during a government shutdown," Patel said to President Trump during an unrelated Oval Office event. "On behalf of the FBI, it's a great debt that we owe you."

Patel did not specify the source of the funds that would be used to pay the agents.

The announcement follows recent moves by the administration to ensure members of the military receive paychecks this week despite most federal workers going without pay until the government reopens. 

Service members were set to be paid Wednesday after Mr. Trump issued a memo directing the Pentagon to use other unspent funds to make payroll. Around $8 billion in funds from the previous fiscal year had been identified to cover the mid-month paychecks, a Pentagon official said earlier. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem also said the Coast Guard, which falls under the purview of her department, would receive paychecks this week from funds in the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" that passed earlier this year. 

When funding lapsed on Oct. 1, agencies began implementing shutdown procedures to send hundreds of thousands of workers home on furlough. While essential employees and those whose duties are funded through other means stayed on the job, almost no federal workers had been expected to be paid until Congress reopens the government. Workers are expected to receive back pay once the shutdown is over.

Under the Justice Department's shutdown plans, no FBI agents were placed on furlough, and only about 10% of department employees overall were expected to be sent home.

The administration's moves to pay certain federal workers has prompted questions about its legal authority to do so, since Congress appropriates funds and gives agencies a limited scope for what they can be used for. In previous shutdowns, Congress has voted on stand-alone measures to pay the military. And the Oct. 15 deadline for military paychecks had been widely viewed as a possible off-ramp in the shutdown amid an impasse between the parties that has extended into a third week. But the moves to unilaterally fund the mid-month paychecks took the pressure off lawmakers, at least temporarily.

Republican leaders in Congress tried to resume that pressure on Democrats to reopen the government and pay the military Wednesday. House Speaker Mike Johnson warned that members of the military are in danger of missing their next paycheck later this month if the shutdown continues, calling the administration's move to pay service members a "temporary fix."

Johnson, asked about funds for law enforcement, said he spoke with Mr. Trump and OMB Director Russ Vought at the White House on Tuesday. He said "they're having to triage federal spending," and must determine "what are the most essential services, personnel, policies and what are not."

"When we look at that, we prioritize troops and law enforcement," Johnson said.