President Trump on Sunday told reporters at Mar-a-Lago that it was still uncertain whether Congress can strike a budget deal by Friday and avert a government shutdown.
But he said there was at least one good reason to pass a budget, or at least what instead could be another temporary funding measure, by the midnight deadline.
“I don’t know if there will be a shutdown. There shouldn’t be, because, if there is, our military gets hurt very badly,” Trump said. “We cannot let our military be hurt.”
The president has returned to the military time and again in his running political fight with Democrats over immigration reform and a 2018 funding bill for the Defense Department and rest of the federal government, which is now more than three months overdue.
“The Dems will threaten ‘shutdown,’ but what they are really doing is shutting down our military, at a time we need it most,” Trump tweeted on Friday.
….Because of the Democrats not being interested in life and safety, DACA has now taken a big step backwards. The Dems will threaten “shutdown,” but what they are really doing is shutting down our military, at a time we need it most. Get smart, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2018
Democrats, for their part, have fired back, saying Trump has derailed negotiations with a demand that a budget and related immigration reform deal fund his Mexico border wall.
Most lawmakers on Capitol Hill, both Republicans and Democrats, do not want a shutdown, and it remains much more likely that Congress passes another continuing resolution this week to buy more time for negotiations.
Still, Trump’s concerns about disruption in the military match those of the Pentagon.
“I cannot emphasize too much how destructive a shutdown is,” Defense Department Comptroller David Norquist said last month when asked about the possibility.
A shutdown could grind maintenance on major weapons systems to a halt and bar contractors from showing up to work because funding stops flowing, according to Norquist. In another example, he said death benefits for troops killed in the line of duty would also be held up.
“So the disruption of this ripples through the organization and is very destructive,” Norquist said.
Paychecks also become a major concern during any shutdown.
Active-duty troops would be required to show up for duty, but they would not get paid while the government is shut down. Once a budget is passed they would receive back pay.
Civilian employees could also get hit hard. In 2013, a 16-day partial government shutdown, due to a fight between Republicans and Democrats over Obamacare, resulted in brief furloughs for 350,000 Defense Department civilian workers.
Congress could choose to pass specific legislation to avert the pay issues, even if it cannot avert a shutdown.
In 2013, lawmakers passed the Pay Our Military Act just before the government closed down, and it provided paychecks to service members and allowed civilians to return to work.
The Pentagon has been preparing for another potential shutdown for months as the budget fight drags on, according to Norquist. But Congress is expected to pass another continuing resolution, the fourth since September, by the end of the day Friday. That would likely keep the military and government funded at current levels into February.
However, there is no danger of actually “shutting down our military,” as the president warned.
“This department will never shut down,” said Dana White, the Pentagon’s top spokesperson.
