VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-Virginia) has introduced a bill to ensure military members would still get paid in the event of a government shutdown.
Congress has until the end of the month to approve a spending plan to avoid a shutdown, but House Republicans are struggling to come to an agreement and left town for the weekend with no deal in place.
Kiggans stayed in Washington to work on the Pay Our Troops Act, which would also apply to civil employees and contractors who work at the Department of Defense.
"A lot of our military members live paycheck to paycheck, so when you talk about even skipping one paycheck, the impact that might have on our active duty military is remarkable," she said in an interview with News 3 Friday morning.
If the government were to shut down, military members would still be expected to report to work, but would not be paid.
Military members determined to be essential could be eligible for back pay once the shutdown ended and money was approved, according to Kiggans' office.
A similar law took effect during the full government shutdown of 2013.
The House has failed to advance the defense spending bill, prompting fears that a shutdown could be coming.
"The inability to prioritize our DoD funding has been frustrating," said Kiggans. "The games that we have played with our military... making the military a political pawn in this sense is not right."
Kiggans is still hopeful Congress will avoid a shutdown, but said she wanted to reassure military members they will still be paid if one does happen.
"The impact that would have if we didn't pay our military members is just huge, so we really need to be protective of their pay," she said.
