Pushed Out, Then Left Unpaid: Lawmakers Give Hegseth Until October 14 to Explain Missing Separation Pay for Trans Troops

When the Pentagon began removing transgender service members last year, it offered them a deal: leave voluntarily and you’ll leave with your full separation pay. Many took it. More than a year later, some of them are still waiting for the money.

Seven House Democrats have now given Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth a deadline to explain why. In a letter released by the Congressional Equality Caucus, the lawmakers write that “at least a dozen transgender troops have not received the separation funds they are owed.” They call that “unacceptable” and “another broken promise by this Administration to those who have served.” They want answers by October 14.

Who’s waiting, and for how much

The letter follows Washington Post reporting in August that documented the delays. The cases it described, as summarised by LGBTQ Nation and The Advocate, are striking:

• Chloe Shapiro, a Texas National Guard member with more than a decade of service, was discharged on February 1, 2026, and is owed more than $66,000. She reports making around 100 phone calls to military officials, contacting her elected representatives and filing inspector general complaints. While she waited, she became homeless, slept in her car, and applied for Medicaid, food assistance and emergency housing.
• An Army National Guard member caring for three-year-old twins is waiting on about $130,000.
• An Air Force major is owed about $340,000.

Separation pay isn’t a bonus. It’s a benefit set by law for service members discharged before retirement, calculated from years of service and base pay, and meant to help them get through the move to civilian life. For people pushed out of a career mid-way through, often with little notice, it can be the difference between landing on their feet and not.

What the lawmakers are asking for

The letter is led by Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.), ranking member of the House Armed Services personnel subcommittee. It’s co-signed by Armed Services ranking member Adam Smith (D-Wash.), Veterans’ Affairs ranking member and Equality Caucus chair Mark Takano (D-Calif.), Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.), and Equality Caucus co-chairs Sarah McBride (D-Del.), Eric Sorensen (D-Ill.) and Everton Blair (D-Ga.). They ask the Pentagon for three things:

1. Processing times for separation pay, broken down by branch, comparing service members separated under Executive Order 14183 (the trans military ban) with everyone else.
2. Anonymised individual records showing amounts owed, dates paid, balances outstanding and expected payment dates.
3. All guidance and internal communications on handling separation pay for people discharged under the order.

The first request matters most. If trans service members are waiting much longer than others being discharged, the delay starts to look like policy rather than paperwork. If everyone is waiting, that’s a different failure, but still one the Pentagon has to fix.

The bigger picture

This is the latest chapter in a policy that has moved faster than the courts reviewing it. After the Supreme Court let the ban take effect, the Pentagon began active separations in May. This month, service members and medical providers described a push to search medical records and identify remaining trans personnel before an injunction in Talbott v. United States could protect them. A petition asking the Supreme Court to take up the discharges is also pending.

The Pentagon hasn’t publicly responded to the letter. The minority party can’t compel an answer, so October 14 may pass quietly. But the request for data means the Pentagon will have to either produce the numbers or decline to. For Chloe Shapiro and the others still waiting, the answer is overdue either way.

If you’re a service member or veteran affected by the ban, SPARTA and the Modern Military Association of America offer support and can point you toward legal help.