Trump uses shutdowns to expand power, and the government shuts down

the Government shutdownactually The second longest in historyWith no end in sight, he quickly became a vehicle for the boss Donald Trump To exercise new leadership over the government.

It wasn’t always this way. In fact, it all started with an attempt to tighten Washington’s observance of federal law.

The modern phenomenon of US government shutdowns began in 1980 with a series of legal opinions issued by the Attorney General Benjamin CivilettiWho was serving under the Democratic president Jimmy Carter. Civiletti arrived at Anti-deficiency law 1870 to say that the law was “Clear and unambiguous” In restricting the government from spending money once Congress expires.

However, in this shutdown, the Republican president used Funding cuts to punish DemocratsTry Laying off thousands of federal workers He took advantage of the vacuum left by Congress to reshape the federal budget to suit his priorities.

“I can’t believe the radical left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity." Trump posted on his social media platform at the beginning of the lockdown.

Democrats just have They dug into their positions.

All of this makes this fight more difficult to resolve and potentially completely redefines how Washington handles funding lapses.

Why is the US government even doing lockdowns?

In the years following the Watergate scandal, Civiletti’s tenure at the Justice Department was marked by an attempt to restore public trust in Washington, sometimes through strict interpretations of federal law.

When conflict between Congress and the FTC delayed legislation to fund the agency, Civiletti issued his opinion, then later followed it up with another allowing the government to perform essential services.

Little did he know that this would lay the foundation for some more definitive political battles to come.

“I never imagined that these lockdowns would last this long and be used as a political maneuver,” said Civiletti, who died in 2022. He told the Washington Post Six years ago.

How lockdowns have evolved

For the next fifteen years, there was no long government shutdown. In 1994, Republicans regained control of Congress under the leadership of the Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich Georgia pledged to reform Washington. they The most dramatic confrontations With Democratic President Bill Clinton on the government shutdown.

Most historians agree that the Internet shutdowns did not work, and that Clinton won reelection in part by demonstrating that he stood up to Gingrich.

“Republicans under Gingrich are having some kind of limited political victories, but for them overall, it’s kind of a failure,” said Mike Davis, an assistant professor of history at Lees-McRae College.

There was another significant shutout in 2013 when Tea Party Republicans sparred with Democratic President Barack Obama. But Democrats did not adopt the tactic of an extended government shutdown until after Trump’s first term.

How is this lockdown different?

During previous funding cuts, presidential administrations have applied the rules governing shutdowns equally to affected agencies.

“The shutdown was supposed to close the same things under Reagan that they had under Clinton,” said Charles Tiefer, former acting general counsel of the House of Representatives and professor emeritus at the University of Baltimore School of Law. In this shutdown, he said, the Trump administration used “a kind of freewheeling presidential appropriation power, which is inconsistent with the entire system, the original Constitution, and the anti-deficiency law.”

The administration has brought a clear political edge to the funding battle, with agencies updating their websites to include statements blaming Democrats for the shutdown. The Department of Defense has tapped research and development funds to pay the salaries of active-duty service members. Trump has tried to initiate layoffs of more than 4,000 federal employees who work mostly in areas seen as Democratic priorities.

During a White House lunch with GOP senators this week, Trump presented his plan Budget Director Ross Foote Like “Darth Vader” he bragged that he was “cutting off Democrats’ priorities and they’ll never get them back.”"

Democrats have only become emboldened by this strategy, repeatedly voting against a Republican-backed bill to reopen the government. They argue that voters will ultimately hold Republicans responsible for the pain of the shutdown because the GOP controls power in Washington.

Democrats are confident they have picked a winning policy claim on health care plans offered under the Affordable Care Act’s markets, but there is an undercurrent that they are also fighting to stop Trump’s expansion of presidential power.

Senator Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia, admitted that his state may lose more than any other state due to the large number of federal employees and the activity there. But he said his constituents were tired of Trump’s “constant display of punishment,” which included layoffs, elimination of funds for economic development projects, lobbying campaigns against universities, and the firing of Virginia’s U.S. attorney.

“It kind of stiffens people’s spines,” Keane said.

The democratic design will be tested next week. Federal employees, including lawmakers’ staff, have gone almost an entire month without full pay. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, which helps about 1 in 8 Americans buy groceries, Facing a potential financing cliff On November 1st. Air travel delays threaten to worsen amid Air traffic controller shortage.

Senator Angus King, of Maine, said he hoped his colleagues would begin negotiating quickly to end the impasse.

He said he was one of the few members of the Democratic caucus who voted to end the shutdown because it “empowers the president beyond what he could do otherwise, and is harmful to the country.”