The Shutdown Showdown At Last Provides Democrats Bargaining Power – And They Should Wield It

The United States government is now officially closed.

Starting in the early hours of Wednesday Washington time, government operations exhausted its funding.

Agencies and departments designed to protect workers, consumers, and investors are currently non-operational, as are national parks and museums.

Most federal workers are going without pay – an estimated three-quarters of a million could be furloughed – including those who are required to remain on the job, such as military personnel and air-traffic controllers.

So-called “mandatory” spending, including Social Security and Medicare payments, will proceed, although checks could be delayed. The construction of Trump’s new White House ballroom won’t be affected.

Shutdowns are symptoms of a government off the rails.

Having experienced two shutdowns firsthand, one when I was secretary of labor. It’s hard for me to describe the fear, frustration and chaos that ensued. I recall spending the first day consoling employees – many in tears as they headed out the door.

There have been eight shutdowns since 1990. Trump has now presided over four.

However, this closure is distinct.

To begin with, it’s the consequence of a decision by Trump and Senate Republicans in July to pass Trump’s gigantic “big beautiful bill” (which I prefer to term “the big ugly” bill) without any Democratic votes.

They could do that because of an arcane Senate procedure called “reconciliation”, enabling the bill to pass with a simple majority rather than the normal 60 required to overcome a filibuster.

The final tally was a squeaker. All Senate Democrats opposed the legislation. When three Senate Republicans joined them, JD Vance was called in to break a tie. Some Republicans bragged that they didn’t need a single Democrat.

The big ugly fundamentally altered the priorities of the United States government. 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 bill also reduced nutrition aid and environmental safeguards, while boosting immigration enforcement and cutting taxes for the wealthy and corporations.

At that time, Republicans required no Democratic votes. However, now, they couldn’t employ reconciliation to fund the government.

Now they needed Senate Democratic votes.

Yet keeping the government going meant keeping all the priorities included in the big ugly bill that all Senate Democrats opposed.

Thus, Democrats demanded restoration of Medicaid and ACA cuts before agreeing, to prevent premium hikes next year.

Even if Senate Democrats had obtained 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, along with all the cuts in nutrition assistance, and all the increased funding for immigration enforcement.

There’s a deeper irony here.

In practice, the government has been partially closed for over eight months, since Trump took office this second time.

Trump and the sycophants surrounding him, including OMB director Russell Vought, and previously Elon Musk, have readily shuttered disliked government segments – such as USAID.

They’ve also acted to dismiss or furlough vast numbers of federal workers doing work they don’t value, such as those working at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

They’ve withheld congressional funds for opposed activities, throughout the federal system.

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).

All of this is illegal, but courts may not intervene in time to stop widespread harm.

Vought threatened to permanently fire more federal employees if the Democrats didn’t vote to continue funding the government. Yet he could have done so before the shutdown, and the shutdown presents no greater opportunity for him to do so.

Actually, the administration’s readiness to ignore Congress and shutter government parts is another reason Democrats should have held firm.

If Democrats had approved funding, what guarantee would they have had that Trump would in fact keep the government going?

Democrats now possess bargaining power. 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 fight over whether to reopen the government, Americans will have a chance to see Democrats standing up for them.