Democratic Senator Tom Harkin on the Government Funding Crisis: "It's dangerous. It's very dangerous. I believe, Mr. President, we are at one of the most dangerous points in our history right now, every bit as dangerous as the break-up of the Union before the Civil War."

Senator Tom Harkin

Coverage of Senator Tom Harkin's comments are linked below:

National Journal: Tom Harkin's Ominous Warning

"Of course, it'd be a stretch to think that the United States is on the cusp of anything as violent as the Civil War. But the consequences of a government shutdown or topping over the debt ceiling could be massively harmful for the U.S. economy, whether you're looking at the possibility of a downgrade in U.S. credit or just the shutdown in payments and services with thousands of government employees out of work."

---Matt Berman, National Journal