On Wednesday October 1, 2025, the federal government began to shut down. It seems there is much confusion over what this means, and how it can affect your every day life, as some people seem to think that everything stops all at once, and that there’s no access to or services provided from anything that is government-related. In reality, that’s not really how it works.
I was on NTD News the other day to explain and discuss in detail, but in essence, it boils down to this… Some people will go about their lives seemingly untouched by the shutdown, while others will be profoundly adversely affected. How deeply you are influenced by the government shutdown depends on your line of work, and whether or not you work for (or with) the federal government.
WHO?
To be clear, only the federal government is shutting down, not the state or local governments. This means that any services provided by your local or state government will continue uninterrupted. Those include things like the local bus service, the local police, the local libraries and schools, etc… But on the federal level, many services will be temporarily reduced or disrupted. How reduced is dependent upon the amount of reserves that the agency or department has in their coffers. For example, the federal courts have sufficient funds to operate for a couple of weeks without disruption, while the IRS has enough reserves to operate until 2031!
WHEN and HOW?
So depending upon how much money an agency or department has in their accounts will determine when and how they shutdown. How is this so? Well it makes sense if you understand what a shutdown is. Shutdowns happen when Congress fails to pass laws (a budget) that funds the government. Remember, Congress controls the purse strings, so it determines what money is issued to which departments and agencies. Many times before a budget is passed, Congress will issue a CR or Continuing Resolution. This allows the federal government to keep operating until a budget is passed. CR’s can be “clean” (which means they do not have any conditions attached to them), or they can be full of changes to the existing funding structure. A government shutdown occurs when new appropriation bills are not passed by Congress, or a CR fails to be passed. At that point, the federal government will begin to operate at a reduced capacity until the reserves run out, at which point they will stop operating altogether.
WHAT?
What does a “shutdown” look like? To get a good understanding, let’s look at a specific sector of the government… the federal courts for example. The courts have about two weeks or so of reserve money to operate. So they will start cutting back on services by prioritizing criminal cases, and delaying or pausing civil cases. I received an email yesterday from the federal court that sits in the Southern District of New York telling me that all civil cases with the DOJ are “stayed” (or on hold). Here’s a copy of the announcement on the Court’s website:
Other agencies or departments that have more savings can operate longer. I understand that the EPA has about three weeks worth of reserves before they will need to start curbing their services. Shutdowns have historically been short lived (with some only lasting a day or two). The longest shutdown occurred during President Trump’s first term, and it lasted 35 days. As of the writing of this article, we are entering day five of this shutdown.
WHY?
As I note in my interview above, the House of Representatives passed a clean CR last week to keep the government funded and open until the end of November. However, the Senate has failed to pass the CR, and this is why the government is shutting down. What are the issues the two parties are fighting over? In short, the Republicans want to keep the status quo and fund the government as-is until the end of the year, but the Democrats are demanding a myriad of things that they want included in the CR which would add over $1 TRILLION in spending! The Republicans refuse to give the Democrats the outrageous things they are demanding money for, and this is why they are at an impasse.
Senator John Kennedy (R-Louisiana) gave a rather detailed speech on the Senate floor lambasting the Democrats and their ludicrous demands. Take a look at some of things the Dems want to fund before they will agree to reopen the government:
If you want to listen to Senator Kennedy’s speech, you can find it here in part.
Of Note…
As I point out in my NTD News interview, it is especially untoward (though sadly not very shocking) that CONGRESS continues to get paid their full pay during shutdowns ($174,000 plus benefits), yet our MILITARY goes without pay!
If this doesn’t tell you how broken our government has become, nothing will.
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