Today (Wednesday, Oct 1, 2026) at midnight-oh-one the U.S. government – once again – "shut down". This means that very few federal services are operating anywhere near capacity while our co-called representatives in the Congress figure out how to agree on passing a law to fund federal agencies.
So, government agencies are not able to do their jobs. How is this different from the last 6 months as Trump's administration enthusiastically follows Project 2025's plan to burn it all down and take us back to the golden era of robber barons, misogyny, patriarchy, and slavery? Federal agencies are already hamstrung by an Executive Branch that refuses to - or actively sabotages the ability to – execute the laws that Congress has passed, and/or previous court decisions have validated.
Nevertheless, the idea that Congress couldn't pass something is utter horseshit. The republicans have (and have used) all kinds of tricks to pass whatever they want; David Dayden at The Prospect makes this point well:
The reality is that Republicans have every opportunity to fund the government if they want. They can do what they have done repeatedly when stymied by Democrats in the Senate from achieving their goals; they can change the Senate rules. In this case, they can end the filibuster on legislative activities like the budget and pass it with the majority they have. Democrats are not needed to lend support to a process that is so distorted and broken that the executive is telling Congress he will not honor any deal they make. If Republicans want to hand over Congress to Trump, they can do it themselves.
But of course the Republicans playbook is to always do the most horrible shit they can, as long as they can find a way to blame on someone else. But Democrats don't have to play along:
Schuman has put this best: "There is no point for Senate Democrats (or Republicans, for that matter) to negotiate or vote for a spending bill, short term or otherwise, unless it resolves or leads to the resolution the issues of impoundments and restricting further withholding of funds, reinforces GAO authority to investigate and litigate impoundments, places political shackles on Vought (such as a new Inspector General at OMB), and requires regular, accurate reporting of agency spending."
