A government shutdown would harm military readiness and have “huge, profound impacts across the globe,” Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said Tuesday morning.
With a looming government shutdown, over 1 million military members and furloughed civilian employees are at risk of going without pay during the shutdown period, Singh said on CNN, adding that a shutdown would send a dangerous message to Washington’s adversaries.
“If the U.S. government shuts down, China, Russia, North Korea, Iran — these are countries that are not shutting down, that are continuing their operations,” she said. “Any type of shutdown, any type of impact to our military and readiness, has huge, profound impacts across the globe.”
Unfortunately, like filibusters, government shutdowns are a Pandora’s box. Once they’ve been used as a negotiating tactic once, you can never un-use them.
That’s not to say this isn’t despicable, but unless there’s bipartisan support to change the process, we’re going to see government shutdowns every time there’s disagreement over funding.