The United States government is now officially closed.
Beginning on Wednesday at 12:01 AM Washington time, the federal government ran out of money.
Agencies and departments tasked with safeguarding consumers, workers, and investors are currently non-operational, as are museums and national parks.
The majority of government employees are going without pay – an estimated three-quarters of a million may face temporary leave – even staff mandated to stay at work, like air-traffic controllers or members of the US military.
Certain mandatory expenditures, covering programs like Social Security and Medicare, are continuing, although checks could be delayed. Work on the new White House ballroom won’t be affected.
Shutdowns are symptoms of a government off the rails.
Having experienced two shutdowns firsthand, including during my tenure as labor secretary. It’s hard for me to describe the fear, frustration and chaos that ensued. I remember the first day spent comforting staff – many in tears as they headed out the door.
Since 1990, the U.S. has seen eight shutdowns. Trump has now presided over four.
But this shutdown is different.
To begin with, it results from a choice by Trump and Senate Republicans in July to approve Trump’s massive legislative package (which I call the “big ugly” bill) with zero Democratic support.
This was possible due to the Senate’s “reconciliation” process, enabling the bill to pass with a simple majority rather than the normal 60 required to overcome a filibuster.
The vote was extremely close. All Senate Democrats opposed the legislation. After three Senate Republicans sided with them, JD Vance was called in to break a tie. Certain Republicans boasted about passing it without Democratic support.
The legislation drastically shifted government priorities. It slashed roughly $1 trillion from health programs, including Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, meaning that health insurance premiums for tens of millions of Americans will soar starting in January.
The big ugly also cut nutrition assistance and environmental protection, while bulking up immigration enforcement and cutting the taxes of wealthy Americans and big corporations.
At that time, Republicans required no Democratic votes. However, now, they couldn’t employ reconciliation to fund the government.
Now Democratic Senate votes were essential.
Yet keeping the government going meant keeping all the priorities included in the big ugly bill that all Senate Democrats opposed.
Which is why Senate Democrats refused to sign on unless most of the big ugly’s cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act were restored, so health insurance premiums won’t soar next year.
Even with that concession, the Republican bill to keep the government going would retain all the tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations contained in the big ugly, plus nutrition cuts and heightened immigration funding.
There’s a deeper irony here.
As a practical matter, the US government has been “shut down” for more than eight months, since Trump’s return to office.
Trump and the sycophants surrounding him, such as Russell Vought, the director of the office of management and budget, and, before him, Elon Musk, have had no compunction about shutting down parts of the government they don’t like – such as USAID.
They’ve also acted to dismiss or furlough vast numbers of federal workers doing work they don’t value, including staff at consumer protection and public broadcasting agencies.
They’ve withheld congressional funds for opposed activities, ranging across the entire federal government.
On the first day of the shutdown, Vought declared an $18 billion freeze that Congress had appropriated for funding infrastructure in New York City (where Democratic leaders reside).
These actions are unlawful, but it seems unlikely that courts will act soon enough to prevent the administration from harming vast numbers of Americans.
Vought threatened to permanently fire more federal employees if the Democrats didn’t vote to continue funding the government. But nothing stopped Vought from doing it before the shutdown, and the shutdown offers no extra leverage.
Actually, the administration’s readiness to ignore Congress and shutter government parts is another reason Democrats should have held firm.
Had Democrats voted to keep the government going, what guarantee would they have had that Trump would in fact keep the government going?
Democrats finally have some bargaining leverage. They ought to utilize it.
Should millions lose health coverage in January due to unaffordable premiums, Trump and Republicans will face blame.
The responsibility lies with Trump and Republicans regardless – it stems from their legislation – but now, in the battle to reopen government, Americans will have a chance to see Democrats standing up for them.
