Everything You’ve Been Wondering About the Government Shutdown
Do lawmakers get paid? Could a shutdown last forever?
As of today, the U.S. government has been shut down for an entire week.
And the vibes are … pretty understated?
While past shutdowns would generally dominate political discourse from start to finish, in the Trump era, there is enough else going on — from National Guard deployments to a potential Middle East peace deal — that this funding gap hasn’t felt nearly as pressing as the others.
It doesn’t help that one-half of Congress isn’t even in Washington (the House last voted on September 19, and won’t be returning this week), depriving TV news producers of 435 guests who would normally be yammering about the impasse at all hours.
The battle lines also feel especially unmoving: if you read a news story about the shutdown one week ago, you would have learned that Democrats are demanding a deal on the enhanced Obamacare subsidies in exchange for funding the government, while Republicans are refusing to talk health care until funding is restored. And that’s still what you’d be reading today: pretty much nothing has changed in the last seven days, and there isn’t much evidence (besides faint signs of informal Senate conversations) that the two sides are even engaged in negotiations.1
But, still: whether it seems like it or not, the government is shut down. A few days ago, I went to walk around Theodore Roosevelt Island, one of my favorite spots in the DC area, thinking that it would still be open, like most other open-air sites maintained by the National Park Service. No luck:
I’m curious to hear in the comments in what ways, if any, you’ve felt an impact from the shutdown.
Pretty soon, around two million Americans will be feeling an impact acutely. This Friday, October 10, is the first would-be payday that civilian federal workers will miss; October 15 is the first date that active-duty military members would miss a paycheck if the shutdown is still going on by then. Both those deadlines could serve as forcing mechanisms adding pressure for lawmakers to come to an agreement.
Last week, I answered one of the top questions I’ve received since the shutdown began: are Democrats really shutting down the government to subsidize health care for illegal aliens? When I did, I said I’d be back soon with more answers to your shutdown questions.
And you had a bunch of great ones! Here’s what we’ll tackle in this special mid-week Q&A column:
Are members of Congress paid during a shutdown?
Why the One Big Beautiful Bill needed 51 votes, but this bill needs 60
Could a shutdown legally go on… forever?
Is it legal for federal agencies to blame the shutdown on “Radical Left” Democrats?
Should Democrats have made this fight about rescissions?
Is there any downside to the government always using continuing resolutions?
And many more!
As always, Q&A columns are made available exclusively for paid subscribers. If you want to support the work I’m doing at Wake Up To Politics — and receive added perks like the mailbag pieces — the best thing you can do is upgrade to a paid subscription. My guess is many of you might have been wondering about these same questions, so I hope you find the answers helpful.
Along the way, you’ll learn about the time Congress set their clocks back to avoid a shutdown, the only military service to spend time without pay in the last 150 years, the Eliminate Shutdowns Act, and more.
Let’s dive in:
Q: Do congresspeople work during a shutdown? Do they do town halls and meet with constituents if not in Washington? Do they hang around Washington and try to work things out? Do they get paid?
Members of Congress aren’t furloughed, so there’s certainly nothing stopping them from working during a shutdown.
The two chambers of Congress have handled things differently, however. The Senate has stayed in session, and so far voted on the competing Democratic and Republican funding proposals five times each, most recently yesterday. (Surprise, surprise: they both failed to notch 60 votes again.) What was it Albert Einstein supposedly said about insanity?
The House, meanwhile, has been on recess this whole time: twice, they’ve been expected to return to Washington, but Speaker Mike Johnson has opted to keep his members at home both times. This is an attempt to “jam” the Senate: We’ve already passed a clean CR, the House is saying. There’s nothing more for us to do until you pass it, too. So we won’t vote on anything until you approve our plan.
Of course, even when they’re not in Washington, members of Congress are still working. Yes, they can hold still town halls and meet with constituents; leaders in both parties are also urging their members to do media in their home districts and press their side’s case.
As for whether members of Congress continue to receive their salaries…