Sen. Mike Rounds said Thursday that he was willing to vote for a government shutdown and help pin the blame on his Republican Party because the military needs full-year funding.
His vote threatens to turn a Democratic shutdown into a Republican shutdown.
“That is always the risk that you take, but at some point we have to address the ongoing problem” of stopgap military funding, said the South Dakota Republican.
The House is expected to vote on a stop-gap spending bill, known as a continuing resolution or CR, that would avoid a shutdown Friday. Democrats are opposing it over demands for deportation amnesty for illegal immigrant “Dreamers.”
Mr. Round’s bold stand in support of the military contradicted President Trump’s charge that a government shutdown would hurt the troops.
“A government shutdown will be devastating to our military…something the Dems care very little about!” Mr. Trump tweeted earlier in the day.
Mr. Rounds argued that the repeated stopgap spending bills hobble military planning.
“It does not allow us to provide adequate contracting capabilities or modernization capabilities for the armed forces,” he said. “We have to address it. Now is the time to do it.”
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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