If Congress fails to approve funding for the federal government by Sunday at midnight, it will trigger a partial shutdown of the federal government until that funding is approved. This will obviously affect millions of Americans across the country, and that will unfortunately include the entertainment for members of the United States Armed Forces serving overseas.
As Jennifer H. Svan of Stripes.com reported on Friday, a shutdown of the federal in the United States would mean that the Armed Forces Network – where many members of the military watch their favorite teams while deployed overseas – would be limited to just one channel, keeping members of the armed forces from watching their favorite teams on Sunday.
“If Congress can’t agree on a stopgap funding bill, viewers who tune in to American Forces Network starting Sunday to catch their favorite teams will instead see a graphic directing them to AFN News, the station’s senior directors said Friday,” Svan wrote.
“If the government shuts down, AFN is under a Pentagon directive to reduce broadcast staffing and services from eight television channels to one, which will show only news, and only one radio station, AFN the Eagle, the network officials said.”
Obviously, this is just one small aspect of the government shutdown, but NFL football is a valuable escape for many of the brave men and women serving our nation, and it’s not fair to them to lose that access. And people had plenty to say about it as a result.
*if/when the U.S. government shuts down, every member of the House/Senate should be sent to the breadlines and have their bank/credit cards accounts frozen. https://t.co/vvjODDE2Nb
— bryan donahue (@BDonahue57) September 30, 2023
we can't let this happen https://t.co/c7s8YsvSCm
— Hurricane Dave (@VisionlessDave2) September 30, 2023
why tho. Trash https://t.co/KHsF2t4jYp
— Logan Sturtevant (@SturtevantLogan) September 30, 2023
America about to lose every war cause the troops can’t watch football https://t.co/wRmj2BLhjy
— Chester Ming (@ChesterM222) September 30, 2023
I for one am more bothered by being overseas and not receiving a paycheck..but also still having to report for work or face UCMJ punishments https://t.co/1XlM7Hz5Z6
— Joseph Tyler Waldrop (@TWaldrop4) September 30, 2023
https://twitter.com/joec0000/status/1708058611157541313?s=20
We’ll have to see if Congress can agree before the deadline at midnight.
