Is the government acting like a spoiled child in "furloughing" air traffic controllers?

The excuse is the “sequester”.

But I think by now everybody knows the sequester does not mean that the government has less to spend than it did last year, only that it doesn’t get to spend quite as much as it hoped it could.

So at the very least, the ATC’s could all work, just maybe not get a raise.

So why would a responsible government act like a spoiled child?