Strouse Op-Ed on Shutdown

Yesterday 8th congressional district candidate Kevin Strouse's op-ed on the (then) potential government shutdown was published on the PhillyBurbs website.  Here is an excerpt:

Should we avoid a shutdown, Congress will lurch toward its next crisis over whether we will make good on our debt payments. Unfortunately, this theater of the absurd has costs — the brinksmanship itself harms our economic recovery and ability to govern effectively.

I saw this first hand as a manager at the Central Intelligence Agency leading a team of officers investigating illicit financial issues in 2011. While my team and I were working to prepare the president and his National Security staff to deal with a crisis overseas, I was yanked away from my team and the mission in order to prepare for a shutdown. The contrast between those of us who wanted to do our jobs, and those who wanted to play political games, was stark.

Preparing for each shutdown has real financial costs — tax dollars are paying for government agencies to prepare for shutdowns rather than serving the American people.