"Pentagon Ensures Ukraine Will Continue To Receive Funding If Government Shuts Down"

Ukraine doesn’t have to worry about a potential U.S. government shutdown affecting the flow of cash, weapons, and military equipment to its country after the Pentagon exempted Ukrainian operations from the possible shutdown.

As lawmakers on Capitol Hill attempt to work out a deal to avoid a government shutdown, a Department of Defense spokesman told POLITICO Thursday that the Pentagon will ensure its Ukraine operations such as training and weapons shipments to President Volodymyr Zelensky’s forces continue even if the U.S. government shuts down. In previous government shutdowns, only military activities deemed to be essential to national security continued normal operations, the outlet reported.

“Operation Atlantic Resolve is an excepted activity under a government lapse in appropriations,” DOD spokesman Chris Sherwood said of the continued U.S. assistance to Ukraine.

The statement from the DOD was a reversal of what it said just two days prior when it worried that a government shutdown could interrupt the “delivery of defense articles, services and/or military education and training” to Ukraine.

While support and aid to Ukraine would continue to flow during a shutdown, the potential shutdown could affect the already deficient security at the U.S. southern border, the Dallas Morning News reported. During the last government shutdown in 2019, essential Border Patrol agents continued to work, but it delayed important maintenance and repairs that “had a serious impact on law enforcement officer operations and safety … including those responsible for border security,” according to a report from the Senate permanent subcommittee on investigations.

The possibility of border security being affected by a shutdown didn’t bother some Republicans, who say that a government shutdown couldn’t make the border crisis any worse than it has already been under President Joe Biden.

“The border has been wide open since Joe Biden took office, which is why shutting down a government that doesn’t protect its borders is not something I’m losing any sleep over,” Rep. Lance Gooden, (R-TX) said, according to the Dallas Morning News.

Daily border crossings have reached an all-time high with around 9,000 illegal immigrants coming into the U.S. every day between last Friday through Monday.