Trump, Patel Confirm FBI Special Agents Will Get Paid During Shutdown

FBI special agents will receive their paychecks despite the government shutdown, according to President Donald Trump and FBI Director Kash Patel.

The news came on Oct. 15 as Patel appeared at a press conference with Trump, who noted that more workers than just FBI special agents were still getting paid.

“We got the people we want paid, paid,” Trump said. “We want the FBI paid. We want the military paid. We got the people that we want paid.”

This clarification comes one day after the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) stated that it was prepared to ride out the current government shutdown by utilizing terminations, also called reductions in force, or RIFs.

“OMB is making every preparation to batten down the hatches and ride out the Democrats’ intransigence,” the OMB stated in an Oct. 14 post on X. “Pay the troops, pay law enforcement, continue the RIFs, and wait.”

OMB Director Russell Vought said on Oct. 10 that the administration intended to lay off as many as 10,000 employees. However, a federal judge on Oct. 15 issued an order that temporarily blocked those layoffs from happening.

At the same time, Trump reaffirmed that his administration was using the shutdown to cut whole programs permanently.

“We’re getting rid of programs that we didn’t like, but that were negotiated in, but we didn’t like,” he said. “We’re terminating those programs, and they’re going to be terminated on a permanent basis. And it’s thousands of people, and it’s … you know, billions of dollars.

“We’re getting rid of a lot of things that we never wanted because of the fact that they made this stupid move, and they don’t want to talk about it.”

Trump was referring to the Democratic senators who continue to vote against the continuing resolution set to keep the government funded for several weeks.

Sixty votes are needed for the resolution to pass, but Republicans only control 53 seats in the Senate.

A ninth vote failed on Oct. 15, with 51 voting in favor of the bill and 44 against.

The Trump administration has also looked elsewhere to keep its priority programs funded, in one case using tariff revenue to keep the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children program, known as WIC, going until funds are allocated by Congress.

However, not everyone was able to get a paycheck, and many federal workers are continuing to work without pay.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on X on Oct. 15 that “13,000 air traffic controllers are working without pay.”

The federal government had been shut down for more than two weeks at the time of this article’s publication.

Jack Phillips contributed to this report.