President Donald Trump will host a large Navy celebration this weekend while the military goes without pay during the government shutdown.
Trump wrote on Truth Social Friday evening, “THE SHOW MUST GO ON!” when announcing his trip to Norfolk, Virginia, on Sunday “to honor our brave men and women of the United States Navy” for its 250th birthday, which will be on October 13.
Trump said he will be joined by first lady Melania Trump, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Secretary of the Navy John Phelan to mark decades of what the president called “maritime dominance.”
“This will be the largest Celebration in the History of the Navy,” Trump said, adding that thousands of active-duty servicemembers and military families are expected to be in attendance.
But unlike the president, these servicemembers won’t be getting paid this weekend thanks to the ongoing government shutdown.
Active-duty servicemembers are required to work unpaid during the shutdown. Their paychecks will stop coming on October 15 if the Senate doesn’t pass a funding bill by then, the Military Times reports.
While the president does get a paycheck during a government shutdown, Trump said in August that he donated a portion of his salary to help with White House renovations.
Many government workers, including servicemembers, should expect to receive backpay once the government shutdown comes to an end.
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Republicans and Democrats have blamed each other for the shutdown, which started Wednesday at midnight.
Democrats have demanded the reversal of Medicaid cuts from Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” and an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies in exchange for their support on a funding bill to keep the government open.
For their part, Republicans have pushed for a funding bill without such provisions and claimed Democrats’ healthcare demands are to give undocumented immigrants free healthcare, despite the group not being eligible for federal healthcare programs aside from emergency services.
In his Truth Social post announcing this weekend’s Navy event, Trump accused Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, “and the other Minority Radical Left Democrats” of trying “to destroy this wonderful celebration of the U.S. Navy’s Birthday” with the shutdown.
“The U.S. Navy has been planning this event for many months and, despite the Democrats’ incompetence, I refuse to let them down as their Commander-in-Chief,” Trump wrote.
Trump is known to enjoy a military celebration. In June, he hosted a military parade in Washington, D.C. to celebrate the Army’s 250th birthday, which coincided with his 79th birthday. An Army spokesperson later told The Hill the grand celebration cost $30 million.
