Partisan Standoff Shuts Down Federal Government

At midnight, September 30th, the Federal government was unable to pass a budgetary continuing resolution after failed congressional negotiations, which means the government officially entered a shutdown. This means that all functions of the United States Government that require financial backing are no longer functioning. National parks have shut their gates. Welfare benefits are no longer being sent out. Federal employees considered essential will not be receiving paychecks for as long as the shutdown continues.

So why is this happening? Essentially, in order to fund itself, the federal government must pass continuing resolutions to continue functioning. These CRs require 60 votes in the Senate in order to pass, and the GOP holds only 53, which means 7 Democrats must break ranks and vote with them to pass it. At the last meeting of the Senate to pass the CR, Senators Fetterman (D-PA), Cortez-Masto (D-NV) and King (I-D-ME) broke ranks with the party and voted to fund the government. On the opposite side, Republican Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) voted with Democrats against the CR.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and most of the Democratic caucus have remained steadfast in voting against a CR that does not include an extension of Obamacare insurance premium subsidies and checks on Budget Director Russ Vought. The Democratic proposal for a CR failed 47-53.

Senators are on vacation until Friday, which means that it will stretch on until then, and then successful negotiations must take place in order to restore funding to the government and end the shutdown.