President Donald Trump announced in his prime time address Wednesday night that he was sending $1,776 checks to more than a million military service members, but a senior administration official confirmed they were already entitled to that money.
The president told viewers he was “proud to announce” that “1,450,000 military service members will receive a special, we call ‘warrior dividend,’ before Christmas," saying the dollar amount was intended to "honor the nation’s founding" and promised "the checks are already on the way" – but Defense One reported the funds were already being sent out by Congress.
“Congress appropriated $2.9 billion to the Department of War to supplement the Basic Allowance for Housing entitlement within The One Big Beautiful Bill,” the senior official said. “Approximately 1.28 million active component military members and 174,000 Reserve component military members will receive this supplement.”
In other words, the checks are being taken out of congressionally allocated reconciliation funds intended to subsidize service members' housing allowances.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directed the Pentagon to “disburse $2.6 billion as a one-time basic allowance for housing supplement” to all eligible service members to help subsidize their basic allowance for housing (BAH), the senior administration official said.
“BAH is generally adequate for Army personnel, though not necessarily when the housing market is changing rapidly and dramatically, as it has in recent years,” according to a Rand report from earlier this year. “Furthermore, while our analysis of housing choices and expenditures among military personnel and of their locational amenities points to an overall positive picture with respect to BAH, a substantial, though minority, share of members report dissatisfaction with BAH.”
Trump suggested that tariff revenue was funding the payments.
“We made a lot more money than anybody thought because of tariffs, and the bill helped us along," Trump said. "Nobody deserves it more than our military, and I say congratulations to everybody."
According to one official, “This one-time payment exemplifies the Department’s ongoing commitment to improving the housing and quality of life for our military members and their families."