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Here we go again.
Washington, D.C. is a place of continual change. Presidents come and go, control of congress shifts from one party to the other, and issues grow hot and then are pushed to the back burner. But amidst it all, one constant remains: nobody gets their panties in a wad over the prospect of a partial government shutdown like the folks in D.C.
Depending on whose math you use, there have been 22 gaps in federal funding over the past half-century. Those resulted in 10 such “shutdowns.” Each time, the U.S. military still stood guard, air traffic controllers still guided jetliners on takeoffs and landings, and USDA inspectors still kept examining meat and poultry for safety.
Q: How many times have the 10 partial government shutdowns directly impacted everyday life?
A: Zero.
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It’s a classic case of what Congress does best: melodrama. Their collective handwringing and wailing that a modern version of the Great Plagues of Egypt is about to descend upon the country should “nonessential” employees be forced to take a few days of paid leave is a sight to be hold. Susan Lucci at her soap opera cheesiest couldn’t hold a candle to that crowd.
As with everything else these days, reactions are split along the partisan divide. Liberals, who view the federal government as a force for good, consider closing it for even one hour to be a sign of the apocalypse. That view is amplified by their echo chamber, also known as the mainstream press.
Meanwhile, conservatives – who view big government with suspicion (as Ronald Reagan once famously put it, “government is the problem”) – would be thrilled if the bureaucrats closed shop and went home for a year.
By now, Americans know the pre-scripted farce that follows by rote. Democrats go into full-blown hysteria mode, shrieking that “people will die” if there’s even the briefest interruption in non-essential services. Capitol Hill correspondents issue a flood of dire reports predicting our nation’s descent into Dickensian bleakness. Republicans, meanwhile, dig in their heels and vow not to budge a single cent on increased spending… even though their hypocritical profligacy is every bit as responsible for our lack of fiscal sustainability.
A classic Mexican Standoff emerges. And since congressional borrowing authorization expires at one minute midnight on a specific date, a game of beat the clock ensues. Talking heads give breathless, live updates on cable news channels – accompanied by a blizzard of frantic posts on Twitter/X and other social media platforms.
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Then, invariably, just before the witching hour, Republicans cave – and Democrats walk away with a big chunk of their fiscal wish list realized. The only thing that varies? The size of the loot in their haul.
This brings us to the closing days of September 2025 – the last month of the federal fiscal year. Last Friday (September 19, 2025), the GOP-controlled House passed a stopgap spending measure that had U.S. president Donald Trump’s seal of approval. But the deal was DOA in the Republican-run Senate – as was a Democratic alternative proposal that was loaded up like the Rockefeller Plaza Christmas tree.
So here we are once more, ready to break into the “shutdown shuffle” yet again.
This time, Washington’s ability to borrow money to keep paying its bills runs out at 12:01 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, October 1. Meaning we’re in for another full week of the partisan melodrama.
Look for the volume to grow louder – and the tone to get increasingly shrill – as September draws to a close. Lines will be defiantly drawn in the sand (and then conveniently redrawn the closer the deadline looms). There will be chest thumping, garnished with outraged claims that “the folks back home expect us to do our job.” We’ll even hear a few desperate pleas begging congress to come together and “get the job done” from middle-of-the-roaders, although those voices are growing ever fainter as their numbers dwindle.
Maybe the government will partially shut down for the 11th time; maybe a closure can be averted. God only knows… but the man upstairs isn’t talking.
Either way, Republicans will ultimately run up the white flag, and that will be that. Democrats will accuse the GOP of being unfair and will blame its leaders for causing the “crisis.” Republicans will accuse Democrats of being recklessly fiscally irresponsible.
And the whole matter will be forgotten by Halloween.
The whole thing brings to mind Mark Twain’s famous line about the missionary who preached to the cannibals.
“They listened intently to everything the man had to say. And then they ate him.”
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
J. Mark Powell is an award-winning former TV journalist, government communications veteran, and a political consultant. He is also an author and an avid Civil War enthusiast. Got a tip or a story idea for Mark? Email him at mark@fitsnews.com.
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5 comments
Haha – is this an old column you recycled? Because I noticed this line: “Meanwhile, conservatives – who view big government with suspicion…”
You don’t really think we believe that do you? It might have been true when Reagan was around, but you are now just as big government as the Democrats. If not worse…
Just end the debt ceiling and let Republicans spend us into oblivion giving handouts to their billionaire Epstein files inductees. If we’re going to go bankrupt we might as well make the first trillionaire or quadrillionaire while everyone else starves.
Republicans have a majority in both the House and the Senate, if a spending bill does not pass it’s 100% their fault. If they can’t get their own member’s to vote for their plan what does that say about their plan? If they need Democrats to pass it then they need to cross over and work with them, don’t go crying to Trump when the Democrats refuse to sign off on some heinous bill.
The only real shutdown that is ever going to occur is when most of the world governments, hedge funds, and major corporations come to realize that the USA has reached the mathematical point of certainty where it cannot make payments on any more debt. It will probably start with a default on bonds currently held by adversarial nations – under the guise of politics and war – as nations have done for hundreds of years going back at least as far as the Spanish empire. And then when the default occurs upon an ally, it will all come crashing down, and like Greece, the federal government will simply directly raid state and private pension funds and private bank accounts under the guise of a national emergency.
Trump added 30% to the national debt in just four short years his first term, what will this term add? When will folks realize the Republicans only pretend to care about deficit spending?