According to the NNS:
WASHINGTON (NNS) -- Military members would continue to earn wages in the event of an April 8 shutdown of the federal government, but they'd have to wait to collect them until Congress agrees on a budget, a senior administration official said April 6.
During a telephone briefing administered by the Office of Management and Budget, a senior administration official detailed the consequences of a possible federal government shutdown that will occur April 8 if Congress doesn't agree on a budget.
Service members, the official said, "will continue to earn money" in the event of a shutdown.
But because there wouldn't be any money to pay out to service members during a shutdown, the official said, they would have to wait to be reimbursed.
"They will be paid once we have money again to pay them," the official said.
What this means is our men and women in uniform will go without paychecks for as long as the shutdown lasts. More after the fold.
What does this mean for service members? Let's look at some numbers. The pay scale for a typical enlistee, an E3, is $1950/mo, or $23,400 per year. This is barely above the official poverty level for a family of 4 in the U.S. Many service members are married with families. I can't imagine that many of them have much in the way of savings to tide them over through even a temporary disruption in income. Members who live off base still have rent or mortgage payments to make. Somebody has to put food on the table. Service members receive a housing allowance in addition to their regular pay, but these payments will be disrupted, too.
Our military is currently engaged in two wars. Thousands have been killed and tens of thousands have come home seriously and permanently injured. Whatever our politics, this is no way for their country to treat them.
Service members are not the only ones who will see disruptions in their pay. According to the OPM,
Federal agencies do not have the authority to pay their employees during a shutdown, regardless of whether the employees are working as "excepted" or furloughed as "non-excepted". "Excepted" employees will receive pay for hours worked when the Congress passes and the President signs a new appropriation or continuing resolution. Congress will also determine whether "non-excepted" employees will receive pay for the furlough period.
Thus a protracted shutdown will affect everyone who works for the U.S. Government, regardless of whether or not they will eventually be compensated for hours worked. I presume this applies to members of Congress, too, but I doubt that any of them are scraping by on $1950/mo.