AGORA SHUTDOWN UPDATE November 13, 2025 After 43 days, the government is back open . . . for now.   President Trump signed the CR into law last night after it cleared the House. The House vote was not as close as expected, 222-209, with six Democrats voting in favor and two Republicans opposed.   While not in doubt, the vote was accompanied by bipartisan anger over a provision the Senate added that would allow Senators to sue the government for as much as half a million dolla

AGORA SHUTDOWN UPDATE November 12, 2025 The House returns from its extremely extended vacation today to take up the Senate-passed continuing resolution (CR) to re-open the government. If all goes to plan, the vote should take place around 7 pm tonight.   This being Congress, of course, nothing ever goes exactly to plan. And with an incredibly narrow majority (narrowed even further by the swearing-in, at long last, of Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva [D-AZ]), the outcome of any Hou

AGORA SHUTDOWN UPDATE November 10, 2025 After 40 days, the dam finally broke. Eight Democratic Senators joined with nearly all Republicans late last night to move forward on a bill to re-open the government. The plan would extend stop-gap funding until the end of January, guarantee back pay for furloughed federal employees, roll back layoffs the Trump Administration imposed during the shutdown, and promise a vote on extending Obamacare subsidies in December.   The bill still

AGORA SHUTDOWN UPDATE November 7, 2025   The shutdown word of the day is “trust.” As in, a complete lack of trust between the two parties is making ending the shutdown close to impossible.   While Senate GOP leaders have offered Democrats a deal to hold a vote on expiring Obamacare subsidies in exchange for re-opening the government, Democrats don’t trust that the House or President Trump will go along with it. Some Democrats, emboldened by the election results, don’t trust t

AGORA SHUTDOWN UPDATE November 6, 2025   Any hope that Tuesday’s election would kickstart the endgame on the shutdown was dashed Wednesday, as many Democrats took their strong showing at the polls as a signal to keep fighting. For his part, President Trump’s strategy appears to be browbeating Senate Republicans into ending the filibuster.   Meanwhile, the FAA announced that it will order a 10-percent cut in flights at major airports, one of several developments that demonstra

AGORA SHUTDOWN UPDATE November 5, 2025   Some records may never be broken (Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak, 70 million copies of Michael Jackson’s Thriller  sold, etc.). Other records should never be broken – like the 35-day government shutdown in 2018-19.   Sadly, the White House and Congress have now achieved that dubious honor.   While discussions continue among rank-and-file Senators to find a way out of the mess, the parties’ leadership aren’t talking. And Democrat

AGORA SHUTDOWN UPDATE November 4, 2025   On the day that the partial federal government shutdown ties the record for the longest in U.S. history, voters go to the polls in Virginia, New Jersey, NYC and a handful of other places. There’s renewed hope that, once the parties are done motivating their voters to go to the polls, lawmakers will sit down and negotiate a truce.   The outlines of a deal are slowly emerging in the Senate: a continuing resolution to re-open the governme

AGORA SHUTDOWN UPDATE November 3, 2025   One day before the partial government shutdown ties the record for the longest in history, talks are quietly picking up on Capitol Hill about how to end it.   Meanwhile, judges are demanding the White House release SNAP benefits, contractors are wondering whether recouping shutdown losses, and a furloughed IRS lawyer is selling hot dogs on the street .   Here's the latest as the shutdown enters its second month.   CONGRESS 'Utterly sha

AGORA SHUTDOWN UPDATE October 31, 2025   Yesterday, the mood on Capitol Hill shifted towards guarded optimism that the shutdown could end in the next week. But after President Trump demanded that Senate Republicans kill the filibuster and pass a CR with 51 votes, the mood has changed again, with worry that external pressure on the GOP to force a vote on a CR without acceding to Democrats’ demands may blow up the sensitive discussions over a resolution.   This comes as the cou

AGORA SHUTDOWN UPDATE October 30, 2025   Lawmakers are saying the vibe is shifting on Capitol Hill towards an end to the government shutdown. Rank-and-file Senators from both parties are reportedly talking about finding an “off-ramp” to the impasse, although leadership has yet to engage.   Of course, vibes alone won’t re-open the government, nor will they ensure that SNAP benefits keep flowing beyond tomorrow night. But the growing exhaustion over the closure, coupled with gr

AGORA SHUTDOWN UPDATE October 29, 2025   Freerange Stock Now entering its fifth week, the federal government shutdown is beginning to wreak havoc on the economy. First, CBO reported that the shutdown could cost upwards of $14 billion. And later this week the Fed has to decide on interest rates without access to the full panoply of economic data upon which they normally rely.   On Capitol Hill, the parties aren’t even seeing the same reality: while Republicans are hopeful that

AGORA SHUTDOWN UPDATE October 28, 2025   AFGE For nearly a month, Democrats in Congress have presented a mostly united front, holding out on approving a continuing resolution to re-open the government unless GOP leadership extends Obamacare subsidies slated to end in December.   But that unity is being tested, as the largest federal employees’ union on Monday called for Congress to re-open the government, with or without a deal on the insurance subsidies. No additional Democr

AGORA SHUTDOWN UPDATE October 27, 2025   With Congress and the White House no closer to a deal to re-open federal agencies, this week will likely bring fresh reminders of the pain that a government shutdown brings.   By the end of the week, SNAP monies will dry up. Federal workers are facing the fallout from their first full missed paycheck. And the nation’s airports are seeing delays multiply. Even a $130 million donation to pay the troops won’t do much to help military pers

AGORA SHUTDOWN UPDATE October 24, 2025   Another week has elapsed with the federal government partially shutdown, and with no real progress towards re-opening it. The Senate has concluded its business for the week, while the House remains AWOL.   In a sign of how meager the prospects are for bipartisan reconciliation, Senate Republicans and Democrats rejoiced at a hint of negotiations – not on the shutdown itself, but on whether and how to pay federal employees. Even this twi

AGORA SHUTDOWN UPDATE October 23, 2025   Senators are apparently getting stir crazy, taking up bills to end the shutdown or lessen its impacts only to see them go down in flames. The House, meanwhile, isn’t even in session, even refusing to swear in the newest member of Congress from Arizona.   But the brunt of the shutdown is falling on federal employees – some of whom have been furloughed, some deemed “essential” and work without pay, and those whose jobs hang in limbo as t

AGORA SHUTDOWN UPDATE October 22, 2025   Government shutdowns used to be major news, dominating the headlines and commanding the public’s attention.   These days? Not so much.   An analysis by Agora  shows that news coverage of this year’s crisis in the Washington Post pales in comparison to the first major impasse in 1995, suggesting that in the intervening 30 years, we’ve grown accustomed to seeing the government close for long stretches of time.   And as this shutdown drag

The Washington Post's front pages tell a story about the normalization of government dysfunction As week four of the partial government shutdown begins without any clear sign of a resolution, the consequences - from air travel delays to neglected national parks - continue to accrue. But despite the disturbing reality that major parts of the government of the world's biggest economy are not functioning, the 2025 shutdown isn't dominating the news like past funding stoppages.

AGORA SHUTDOWN UPDATE October 21, 2025   National Nuclear Security Administration As the Senate fails for the 11 th  time to re-open the government, GOP leaders are trying new approaches, including bringing up legislation to immediately pay federal workers and introducing a longer continuing resolution to keep agencies open into next year. Talk of addressing Obamacare subsidies is also bubbling on Capitol Hill.   But the main contours of the impasse remain: Democrats are cool

AGORA SHUTDOWN UPDATE October 20, 2025   As the new week begins, the partial federal government shutdown prepares to enter its fourth week with no signs of ending.   If anything, the battle lines appear to be hardening. Congressional Republicans are digging in, showing little daylight between the White House. And Democrats, buoyed (or perhaps fearful of) the weekend’s “No Kings” protests, do not appear to be in the mood to budge.   But the effects of the shutdown, even if not

AGORA SHUTDOWN UPDATE October 17, 2025   The Senate skipped town last night for a long weekend after it failed once again to re-open the government. The House, meantime, has been out of session since September.   With President Trump making decisions about who to pay and who to fire, Congress’ constitutional authority to write laws and appropriate money is looking more and more like a paper tiger. Even the annual defense spending bill, which passed through committee with bipa