BUDGET/DEMS/GOP/MILITARY: “Republicans on Sunday [1-21-18] escalated their accusations that Democrats are abandoning the military, banking that the plight of unpaid troops on the front lines will be one of the GOP’s most potent political weapons in the standoff over the government shutdown.
The GOP coalesced around that message in statements by congressional leaders, tweets from President Donald Trump and an appearance Sunday by Vice President Mike Pence, who used a visit to American troops in the Middle East to accuse Democrats of holding the nation’s warriors hostage to politics…
Democrats fired back by accusing Republicans of hypocrisy, noting that GOP leaders have blocked a stand-alone bill that would keep paychecks, bonuses, housing allowances and other benefits flowing to troops and their families. Congress took such a step when the last government shutdown in 2013 appeared imminent.
But the Republicans’ argument is a simpler one, and the political peril for Democrats could multiply if the impasse begins to have serious consequences on military readiness.”
-Gregory Hellman and Connor O’Brien, “Troops caught in shutdown crossfire,” Politico, Jan. 21, 2018 06:55pm