Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) plans to force Democrats to vote next week on legislation to pay more than 1 million military service members during the government shutdown, doubling down on his strategy of highlighting the plight of military families, according to Senate GOP sources.

Thune on Wednesday put a bill sponsored by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) to pay members of the military during the shutdown on the Senate calendar, setting it up for a vote as soon as next week.

President Trump has directed Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to use “all available funds” to make sure active-duty service members and their families don’t miss paychecks during the shutdown and Pentagon officials have identified $8 billion in unspent research, development and technology funds to cover troops’

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