Defense Contractors to Face Painful Bind in New Shutdown Stage

Defense contractors are starting to feel more pain from the US government shutdown, according to an attorney who represents them.

Contractors working with the military are faring better than those with contracts from civilian agencies because many Defense Department staffers are deemed essential and are still on the job, said John Prairie, the new head of Mayer Brown’s government contracts group. Nearly four weeks in, however, that’s changing.

“They might still have to continue performing, but DOD has or will soon stop paying them, which puts them obviously in a really difficult spot,” Prairie said.

According to the Pentagon’s shutdown ...