As the federal government remains shuttered absent an agreement about how to fund its operations, regular Americans are feeling the effects. Federal workers are missing paychecks and the White House has moved to fire thousands of them; programs for the needy and the hungry have paused; and many national parks are unstaffed until a deal is brokered.
If there is good news amid this madness, it’s that service members — thousands of whom call Hampton Roads home — received their paychecks this week, staving off anxiety for families scraping to get by. But the mechanism by which the Trump administration met payroll this month is almost certainly illegal.
Americans uniformly want members of our military paid for their service without interruption, but it cannot be done at the expense of constitutional order and the separation of powers. Congress cannot continue to cede authority to the executive, and the courts must hold this administration to account.
When Congress failed to reach even a temporary agreement to fund the federal government before Oct. 1 — never mind passing the required appropriation bills that would put Washington on firm financial ground — the government effectively shut down. Some programs such as Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security continue uninterrupted.
But nonessential federal workers were furloughed; the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) food program will soon exhaust their funds; and numerous federal agencies and departments will be stretched to deliver services. And that’s just scratching the surface of the disruptions that will proliferate the longer this goes on.
A considerable worry, especially in our region, was that the 1.3 million active-duty members of the military and activated members of the National Guard would miss their paychecks, which were scheduled to be distributed Wednesday. Congress did not approve a bill insulating the Pentagon payroll from the shutdown before its recess, leaving our troops in limbo.
So on Saturday, President Donald Trump directed the Pentagon to use about $8 billion in money appropriated for research, testing and evaluation from the 2024-25 fiscal year to pay members of the military. He expanded that approach on Wednesday by signing a memorandum that would repurpose additional unspent funds for the administration’s priorities.
Trouble is, that appears to violate the Antideficiency Act, a law that dates to 1884 and “prohibits federal agencies from obligating or expending federal funds in advance or in excess of an appropriation,” according to the Government Accountability Office. Violations can result in administrative and even criminal penalties, including up to two years in prison.
The law is a foundational pillar for the separation of powers. It protects Congress’ constitutional duty to control federal spending and ensures that money dedicated for one purpose is not used elsewhere. Without it, congressional appropriation authority would unspool, ceding more power to the executive.
Responsibility for federal spending sits at the center of the ongoing impasse. The Trump administration has repeatedly disregarded spending decisions approved by Congress to pursue deep cuts to federal agencies, rendering any bipartisan agreement moot. Democrats are justified in being wary of negotiating a deal that the White House will simply ignore.
Democrats in Congress also aren’t spoiling for a fight over paying our military. The likelihood is that this abuse of authority will go unchallenged, despite the apparently illegality of the White House’s actions.
For Hampton Roads, the administration’s moves mean dollars in pockets for military families, bills paid on time and, hopefully, a respite from worry in the coming weeks. These men and women volunteered to serve their country and it was a dereliction of duty that Congress would fail to act responsibly to ensure they receive their paychecks on time.
But the more Congress allows this presidency to proceed unchecked, to disregard laws and undercut negotiated deals, the more our Constitution frays and the less likely our federal system will return to its normal state of operations.
