Here’s one of the immediate losses that will be felt if the federal government shutdown lingers into Sunday night.
Military personnel based overseas won’t be able to watch the AFC and NFC championship games on Sunday.
According to Stars and Stripes, some U.S. Defense Department operations ceased as partisan gridlock ground many federal operations to a halt, including the American Forces Network (AFN), which would carry Sunday’s games to troops based overseas.
The network posted a message online that said AFN services were not available, and classical music was playing on its radio and TV stations.
The federal government shut down at the stroke of midnight Friday, halting all but the most essential operations and marring the one-year anniversary of President Donald Trump's inauguration.
Last-minute negotiations crumbled as Senate Democrats blocked a four-week stopgap extension in a late-night vote, causing the fourth government shutdown in a quarter century. Behind the scenes, however, leading Republicans and Democrats were trying to work out a compromise to avert a lengthy shutdown.
The last time the federal government shut down, AFN maintained news and some radio services.
Democrats laid fault with Republicans, who control both chambers of Congress and the White House and have struggled with building internal consensus. Republicans declared Democrats responsible, after they declined to provide the votes needed to overcome a filibuster over their desire to force the passage of legislation to protect some 700,000 younger immigrants from deportation.
Republicans branded the confrontation a "Schumer shutdown" and argued that Democrats were harming fellow Americans to protect "illegal immigrants." Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said a "Trump shutdown" was more accurate.
The AFC championship game is at 3:05 pm between the New England Patriots and the Jacksonville Jaguars, while the Philadelphia Eagles take on the Minnesota Vikings in the city of brotherly love at 6:40 pm.
