President Trump has issued the Defense secretary a directive to find funding to pay U.S. troops, given dollars earmarked to do so are set to run out on Wednesday due to the government shutdown.

The big picture: The Trump administration began announcing expected layoffs on Friday, saying in a court filing it is slated to fire at least 4,100 employees across multiple government agencies.

What he's saying: The president said in a Truth Social post demanding Defense "get our Troops PAID" on Saturday that he is using his "authority, as Commander in Chief, to direct our Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to use all available funds to get our Troops PAID on October 15th." • "We have identified funds to do this, and Secretary Hegseth will use them to PAY OUR TROOPS," Trump added.

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