President Donald Trump signed an order on Wednesday directing the Pentagon to ensure active-duty military personnel are paid despite the federal government shutdown, the White House said, addressing one of the most sensitive issues in the bitter standoff over federal spending.

Trump directed Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth “to use for the purpose of pay and allowances any funds appropriated by the Congress that remain available for expenditure in Fiscal Year 2026 to accomplish the scheduled disbursement of military pay and allowances for active duty military personnel,” according to text of the executive order shared by the White House on social media.

A Pentagon official said on Saturday about $8 billion originally slated for research, development, testing and evaluation would be used to pay the troops.

While active-duty troops are receiving paychecks, about 33,000 National Guard dual-status technicians, who are civilian federal employees and military members, will not get paid, according to the National Guard Association of the United States. Technicians can oversee broad areas, such as vehicle maintenance. They can also train or instruct guard members.

“It’s great that President Trump stepped in to ensure active-duty troops got their October 15 paychecks,” said retired Maj. Gen. Francis M. McGinn, the NGAUS president. “It certainly lessened the anxiety in many military families.

“But this action isn’t a long-term solution, and it didn’t take care of all our troops,” McGinn added in a statement. “Left out are National Guard dual-status technicians, who serve full-time in uniform and are vital to our readiness.”

The training weekends for guardsmen on drill status have also been canceled, resulting in a loss of training time and paychecks, the statement said.

The Colorado National Guard employs 5,500 people, and across the nation the National Guard employs 433,000 people.

When government offices closed in 2013, members of the military were paid because Congress passed a separate “Pay Our Military Act.” This year, Republican Rep. Jen Kiggans introduced a similar bill, the “Pay Our Troops Act,” but it did not pass before Johnson sent the House home last month.

The Gazette’s Mary Shinn contributed to this report.