Rubio says government shutdown could have a 'catastrophic impact'

Marco Rubio on CBS

"The last thing we can afford is to send a message to the world that the United States government, by the way, is only partially functioning," Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said Sunday in an interview with Face the Nation on CBS, citing tension with North Korea, the French election, and turmoil in Syria as situations that could be dangerously complicated by a U.S. government shutdown.

"I mean, that would just have catastrophic impact in my view or certainly very destabilizing I should say impact on global affairs," Rubio added. "And so we should keep that in mind going into this week." In 2013, Rubio indicated he was willing to "go all the way," which in context meant voting against a spending bill if it did not defund ObamaCare, even if that meant allowing the government to shut down.

A shutdown is expected if Congress does not pass a federal budget or spending extension by Friday, April 28. The White House has demanded any funding package include money for President Trump's proposed wall along the southern border, as well as a spending bump for the Defense Department. Congressional Democrats, suffice it to say, are not enthused.

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Watch Rubio's comments in context below. Bonnie Kristian

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Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.