IN FOCUS - Oct. 3, 2025

The federal government has closed for the first time since a 2018-19 shutdown that spanned 35 days and remains the nation’s longest.

There are some indications this shutdown may surpass it.

This week, Democrats were nearly unanimous in rejecting temporary spending plans brought forward by President Trump and the GOP-led House and Senate. Government shutdowns are always a high-risk gambit, but there is particular uncertainty this time whether voters will take out their frustration on Republicans who run Washington or Democrats who’ve made a tactical decision to close the government rather than continue funding the Trump bureaucracy.

A message war is well underway: congressional Democrats say they’re fighting to lower healthcare costs for American families, while Republicans accuse the minority party of holding the government hostage in order to restore Medicare and Medicaid benefits for non-citizens. Since this is the first shutdown of the meme era, much of the discourse is predictably mature - such as this cat video from the DNC and response from the RNC. 

Like we said, this shutdown may last a while …

Progressives are pushing Democratic lawmakers to dig in and fight, though House Republicans ran this exact play a dozen years ago to little effect.

One notable difference: this time around, it’s not President Obama sitting in the Oval Office. President Trump said he views the shutdown as an “unprecedented opportunity” to slash what he called “Democrat agencies.” Already, the administration has paused approximately $20 billion in federal funding for infrastructure projects in deep blue New York City and Chicago. No word yet on whether that funding will be restored when the parties reach a deal.

The budget brinkmanship is likely to only heighten as the shutdown continues. Expect more cat videos and sombreros.