For the 15th time since 1981, the United States government has shut down after Congress and the President failed to agree on budget legislation. The current funding block, which began Wednesday, pits Republican President Donald Trump against an emboldened Democratic opposition.
To the Democrats, it’s a fight over health care spending and an opportunity to obstruct Mr. Trump after their party has been effectively shut out of power in Washington for nine months. To the White House, it’s a chance to enact even deeper spending cuts and fire more public employees – or at least threaten to.
To government workers, it means being furloughed from their jobs or working without pay. And to the American people, it means a disruption in government services which will get worse the longer it lasts.
What’s behind this latest shutdown? What does it mean in practice? Why does the world’s most powerful country periodically fail to fund its own government? Let’s delve in.
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Why has the U.S. government shut down and is it Trump’s fault?
Last month, Democrats made two budgetary demands of the governing Republicans: that a series of tax credits for people buying health insurance under the Obamacare system be extended past the end of this year, and that a previous cut to funding for Medicaid be reversed.
The Republicans refused, the Democrats (mostly) voted against legislation to keep funding the government, and the shutdown began.
Republicans have majorities in both chambers of Congress, but Senate rules require a supermajority of 60 votes to end filibusters on most legislation. So the Republicans, who hold 53 of 100 Senate seats, need Democratic help to get most bills passed.
U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune speaks to reporters at his office door on the second day of a partial shutdown of the federal government at the U.S. Capitol in Washington.Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Why do government shutdowns happen in the U.S.?
To fund government operations, Congress has to pass budget legislation and the President has to sign it. If the President vetoes any bill, Congress can only override the veto with a two-thirds majority in both houses.
Before 1980, when Congress and the President failed to pass spending legislation, it wasn’t a big deal: government departments would just keep spending money anyway. But that year, then-attorney-general Benjamin Civiletti issued a legal opinion finding that the Antideficiency Act of 1884 required the government to shut down if Congress did not provide it with funding.
Since then, there have been 15 shutdowns, with the longest ones happening between 2018 and 2019 (35 days), 1995 and 1996 (21 days), and in 2013 (16 days).
Why don’t we have government shutdowns in Canada?
This doesn’t happen in Canada because the government is structured differently. Unlike the U.S. system, in which the president and Congress are elected separately, Canada’s prime minister depends on the backing of the House of Commons to govern. If the House of Commons votes down the budget or passes a motion of no-confidence, the government falls and, usually, a snap election takes place.
This means that, in parliamentary systems such as Canada’s, a government shutdown similar to the kind in the U.S. is virtually impossible.
There have been 15 shutdowns of the U.S. government, with the longest one of 35 days happening between 2018 and 2019.Mariam Zuhaib/The Associated Press
What does the shutdown mean for workers and will it cause flight delays?
The most immediate effect is that hundreds of thousands of government employees are off work without pay, while some are still working but will not be paid until the shutdown ends. Government contractors are also furloughed.
Some services will either close down, scale back or get slower over the coming days as government agencies use up their remaining financial reserves. National parks and museums, for instance, will either close or stop providing services such as maintaining trails. Safety inspections for food and aircraft could be scaled back. The processing of tax returns could slow down.
Even essential services where workers will stay on the job unpaid are likely to be affected: During the last shutdown, rates of absenteeism for border guards, air traffic controllers and airport security went up, meaning travel delays are likely.
What happens if the shutdown continues long-term?
The consequences of the shutdown will get more serious over time as the programs that fund food stamps and housing vouchers for tens of millions of low-income Americans run out of money and stop paying benefits.
Other social programs, such as Medicare and Social Security, are set up to be continuously funded and will continue paying out during the shutdown.
The White House’s budget chief Russell Vought has vowed to use the government shutdown to undertake more firings and cuts.Evan Vucci/The Associated Press
Who is Russell Vought and why does he matter in all of this?
Mr. Vought is the White House’s budget chief and a top architect of Mr. Trump’s mass layoffs of government workers and social spending cuts. He has vowed to use the shutdown to undertake more firings and cuts.
On X, Mr. Vought announced Wednesday that he would cut or freeze federal funds for a string of blue or purple states. That includes US$18-billion for the extension of the Second Avenue Subway in New York and the construction of a new passenger rail tunnel between Manhattan and New Jersey; and US$8-billion for climate projects in 16 states that voted Democratic in the 2024 presidential election.
New York is the hometown of both of the Democrats’ top congressional leaders, Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries. On X, Mr. Jeffries argued that Mr. Vought did not have the power to unilaterally stop these funds, signalling that the move is likely to lead to a court battle.
The White House has said to expect more cuts, including firings of federal workers. The Trump administration has already cut about 300,000 jobs this year through layoffs and buyouts.
On Truth Social on Thursday, Mr. Trump said he and Mr. Vought would “determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM” be cut.
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Will the Democrats or the Republicans blink first to end the shutdown?
When The Globe’s Laura Stone asked Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who was in Toronto for meetings on Wednesday, if she agreed with her Democratic colleagues that this was the moment to stand up to Mr. Trump, Ms. Whitmer was non-committal.
“I hope that they can resolve it quickly,” she said of the shutdown. “Beyond that, I don’t know that I’ve got a lot more insight on D.C.”
Such caution from the Governor, a potential 2028 presidential contender, is indicative of the uncertainty over how the shutdown will play out and which side will end up taking the blame. While Democrats have framed it as a battle over health care, the Trump administration is pulling out all the stops to put the blame on the other party.
“Due to the Radical Left Democrat shutdown, this government website will not be updated during the funding lapse,” reads a message on the Department of Agriculture website, with similar pop-ups posted on other government sites. “President Trump has made it clear he wants to keep the government open.”
The White House has also falsely accused Democrats of wanting to extend health care to “illegal aliens.”
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The most recent previous shutdown in 2018 and 2019, during Mr. Trump’s first term, ended with the President giving in to the Democrats, who refused his demand to include funding for a wall on the Mexican border in a budget bill.
This time around, both sides have incentives to dig in.
Congressional Democrats, particularly Mr. Schumer, have taken flak from the party’s base for not doing more to fight back against Mr. Trump. Backing down now risks looking ineffectual in the face of a President whom Democrats frequently characterize as an authoritarian.
Mr. Trump, for his part, has so far faced few political obstacles to his second-term agenda, and despite the unpopularity of cutting health care spending in particular, would be loath to appear weak by backing down.
So for now, it’s a test of wills between the two sides and an open question as to which party will come out worse in voters’ eyes.