By Tiffany Williams –
The threat of a government shutdown is once again hanging over Washington — but this time, chances of a last-minute compromise look grim.
Republicans are pushing a short-term measure to keep the lights on through Nov. 21. Democrats want it to also roll back Medicaid cuts in President Donald Trump’s massive spending bill this summer and extend tax credits that lower health premiums for millions. Republicans flatly reject those demands, and the House isn’t even expected back before the deadline.
When funding lapses, agencies must shut down non-essential functions. “Excepted” employees — like air traffic controllers, FBI agents, and members of the Armed Forces — keep working without pay until the crisis ends. Programs funded by mandatory spending, such as Social Security, Medicare, and veterans’ health care, continue. The mail also keeps coming; the Postal Service runs on its own revenue.
In Trump’s first term, the longest shutdown in U.S. history stretched 35 days, leaving 340,000 of 800,000 federal workers furloughed. They were eventually paid retroactively, as required by a 2019 law, but many missed paychecks in the meantime.
What closes depends on agency plans. National parks often lock up, Smithsonian museums would shutter, Education Department payments to schools and colleges could be disrupted, and the FDA would halt long-term food safety initiatives.
This time, Trump’s Office of Management and Budget has gone further, warning agencies to prepare for permanent cuts. A memo Wednesday suggested issuing reduction-in-force notices — firings, not furloughs — for programs not funded in Trump’s summer bill and deemed “not consistent with the President’s priorities.” That would mark a break from precedent and trigger another wave of upheaval in a federal workforce already thinned by Trump’s government efficiency push.
With neither party blinking and the deadline just days away, Washington looks set to careen into another shutdown — and this one could cut deeper than the last.