WASHINGTON — When the Department of Defense released its fiscal impact statement this week, it showed that Virginia is the number one state in the nation for defense spending, with $62.7 billion spent here.
Virginia is home to 27 military bases, the Pentagon, the world's largest Naval base -- Naval Station Norfolk -- the Navy's East Coast Master Jet Base NAS Oceana, and the world's only maker of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, HII's Newport News Shipbuilding.
HII also happens to be the state's largest industrial employer, with more than 25,000 workers.
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Virginia) on Thursday said he is especially concerned about federal contractors -- such as those who work at shipyards -- who do not enjoy the same eventual guaranteed back pay that federal employees do.
"I, frankly, think the most significant effect on the military side is more likely to be with contractors because we don't have a back pay for contractors,” he said.
Virginia's other U.S. Senator, Democrat Mark Warner, also expressed concern about a shutdown’s impact.
"There's no state in the country that gets hit harder than Virginians. If we start a shutdown this weekend, you'll see federal workers, members of the armed forces, who will still have to go to work, but they won't get paid,” he said. “Now, ultimately, after the shutdown, they will get reimbursed. But for many families, government workers, and others who live paycheck-to-paycheck... how are they going to pay their mortgage? How are they going to make their car payments?"
Pentagon spokeswoman Sabina Singh called the shutdown, “a worst-case scenario for the department.”
She added: “We continue to ask Congress to do its job and fund the government.”
The Military Family Advisory Network reports that one in six military and veteran families are experiencing food insecurity.