WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
HOW DID WE GET HERE?
Simply put, Republicans shut down the government because they’d rather take healthcare away from working families and greenlight Trump’s authoritarianism than pass a federal budget that protects our health, security, economy, and democracy.
Since January, Republicans have been driving up healthcare costs, slashing coverage for millions of families, forcing the closures of rural hospitals, and shutting down biomedical research at a breakneck pace. Their Big Ugly Bill included the biggest cut to Medicaid in the program’s history, and triggered over $500 billion in cuts to Medicare to start in January. Now, they’re refusing to act on the expiring ACA tax credits that millions of families rely on to afford their health insurance.
Meanwhile, Trump’s budget chief Russ Vought is also illegally freezing hundreds of billions of dollars of bipartisan funding meant for our communities but which Trump personally doesn’t like.
Republicans control the White House and majorities in Congress, but any funding bill must clear the 60-vote filibuster threshold in the Senate, so Democrats have real leverage in funding negotiations - and they’re using it to stop Republicans from ripping away healthcare and handing Trump another blank check for his power grab.
Republicans have put forward a proposal known as a continuing resolution (“CR”) to temporarily fund the government through November 21 without doing anything to address healthcare affordability or the cuts from their Big Ugly Bill. House Republicans passed this CR (with the support of two Democrats, Golden and Gluesenkamp Perez) and then skipped town, going into recess. They even changed their schedule to avoid coming back to work until after the shutdown deadline, all in an attempt to force Senate Democrats to accept the CR.
Democrats are eager to keep the government open and have put forward their own proposal that would reverse the Medicaid cuts made by Republicans in their Big Ugly Bill, permanently extend the ACA tax credits to head off massive premium increases, and prevent Trump from stealing from our communities. Dems have demonstrated they’re willing to negotiate, but oppose any deal that fails to meet the needs of the American people.
How did Republicans respond to Dems’ proposal? House Republicans refused to allow a vote on it, and Senate Republicans have repeatedly shot it down on procedural votes. Every one of them voted against affordable healthcare, and against ensuring Trump follows our budget laws.
Democrats need to stand united in demanding Republicans stop their shutdown scheme, and start to negotiate a bipartisan funding deal that saves healthcare and reins in Trump.
WHAT HAPPENS DURING A SHUTDOWN?
At the onset of a government shutdown, federal agencies identify which workers and operations are “essential” vs “nonessential;” essential workers continue their jobs without pay for the duration of the shutdown, while nonessential workers are sent home. Both groups receive automatic backpay when the government reopens, though federal contractors do not.
The president has discretion over what is deemed essential, but it’s important to know that a shutdown does not give the president any additional legal authority to fire federal workers or prevent the courts from considering cases challenging administration actions or policies.
It’s also worth noting that Trump has spent this entire term firing historic numbers of federal workers and attempting to shutter entire departments — working outside his legal authority to lead a sort of “rolling shutdown” since day one. That’s why federal workers have called on Democrats to hold the line even as Trump shuts down the government, declaring they'd “willingly forego paychecks in the hopes of preserving the programs we have devoted our lives to administering.”
There is a lot that is unknown and hard to predict, and of course we expect Trump and his cronies to test the boundaries or blow past them — that’s why we need all hands on deck.
HOW WILL THIS END?
Republicans control a federal trifecta and are responsible for ending the shutdown. They must negotiate with Democrats on a bipartisan deal that delivers relief from the healthcare crisis they’ve escalated, and stop Trump from stealing from our communities.
Democrats must stay focused on realistic, achievable goals for using their leverage; we can’t end fascism in one fell swoop, but we can start to rein in the lawlessness, save healthcare for millions of Americans, and force Republicans to be held accountable for putting billionaires over families.