Political parties crash in government shut down
By Dylan Mangahis, October 28, 2025
Today marks 28 days since the government officially shut down at 9 p.m. PST, Sept. 30.
The two main political parties clashed heads during a meeting where Republicans looked to Democrats to agree to extend government funding for another seven weeks, according to CNN. In contrast, Democrats were adamant about carrying out a bill featuring an extension of enhanced Affordable Care Act premium subsidies, such as those in Obamacare.
According to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a shutdown occurs when Congress fails to pass spending legislation, leading to a lapse in funding for government operations. This forces non-essential federal employees to be furloughed, and many government agencies halt or reduce services until new funding is approved.
The pending package pitched by Republicans failed to address the imminent expiration of ACA tax credits. Without the security of the extension, millions of Americans could face significant increases in their health insurance come Dec. 31, according to CNN.
Democrats are also looking to reverse the Medicaid cuts made by President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill.” The One Big Beautiful Bill Act is a reconciliation package that aims to cut massive taxes on certain programs, such as Social Security, and changes funding to various government programs like healthcare, food assistance and student loans.
Political science and public administration professor Neilan Chaturvedi described this government shutdown as unique.
As shutdowns have become more common within the last 30 years, as seen in former President Obama’s term and in President Trump’s first term, Chaturvedi finds that shutdowns have grown to be normalized.
“If you look at the media stories, there isn’t as much pressure as there has been in the past,” Chaturvedi said. “It’s unusual we aren’t seeing media pressure on both sides to come to some sort of resolution.”
Chaturvedi also noted he hasn’t seen senators come together to create a commonsense proposal as they would in the past. Before, senators would band together to create a proposal to end shutdowns quickly.
To fund the government, Congress must pass a set of appropriation bills. Since it hasn’t passed these bills, Congress can pass Continuing Resolutions that’ll fund the government for a temporary period. Unlike other shutdowns, the government hasn’t shared its plans so far. And lawmakers from both sides have yet to agree to a continuing resolution.
“Before, you had some hope that a handful of Democrats, a handful of Republicans would come together; even if the leadership couldn’t come together,” Chaturvedi said. “You’d have some people who’d find a compromise and were not in the place anymore.”
Since the beginning of the shutdown, hundreds of thousands of federal workers have been laid off. According to CNN, several federal agencies, including the Department of Education, Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services, laid off around 1,300 workers per department.
ABC News reported several states are warning they will be forced to suspend Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits come Nov. 1 if the shutdown continues.
Food stamps serve more than 41 million low-income Americans. The program, run by the USDA Food and Nutrition Service, issues electronic benefits that can be used like cash to purchase food, according to the Department of Social Services.
A day after the shutdown, the White House website posted a ticking clock marking its duration, and the text listed underneath insinuates blame on the Democrat party.
The White House has also modified its voicemail to blame political opponents for the shutdown.
“Democrats in Congress have shut down the federal government because they care more about funding health care for illegal immigrants than they care about serving you, the American people,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
During the January 2018 shutdown, the message blamed Democrats for holding government funding “hostage.”
During this current shutdown, Leavitt’s updated message pointed Congressional Democrats were to blame for refusing to pass a clean continuing resolution.
“Until Democrats vote for the clean Republican-backed continuing resolution to reopen the government, the White House is unable to answer your call or to answer your questions,” Leavitt said.
The White House posted a TikTok on Oct. 6. featuring an AI-generated opener of the White House being showered in multi-colored sombreros as the iconic Jet 2 Holiday sound plays in the background. However, this rendition of the Jet 2 Holiday sound was remixed with the famous Latin pop song “Danza Kuduro.”
The TikTok’s caption takes a play on the sound used to point fingers back at the Democrats, while calling undocumented immigrants “criminal illegal aliens.”
Stephen Campbell, a 19th century political history professor at Cal Poly Pomona, said the fierceness shown by the Republican Party can be seen through their unequivocal support of Trump, a rejection of climate expertise and hinting Trump is out on a path of revenge.
“There are two parties involved, so you could rarely say 100% that one person or one party is at fault,” Campbell said. “If you had to push me one way or the other, I would say the Republican Party is more at fault compared to the Democrats. I think a lot of it has to do with the rather extremist nature of the Republican party.”
From the brief cancellation of Jimmy Kimmel, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids, or the indictment of the lawyer and former Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, James Comey, Campbell said it’s clear revenge is a priority to the Trump administration.
“If you listen to Democratic Party voters and liberals and Democratic members of Congress, they’re pretty outraged about what the Trump administration has been doing for the past eight or nine months,” Campbell said.
Abraham Tapia, a former political science student, now a mechanical engineering student, understands the moral grounds of the Democratic Party because of their lack of power in the Senate and the House of Representatives.
“They are the ones stopping the government from being funded, but they have these reasons. These moral justifications,” Tapia said. “But they are the ones stopping. They’re the obstacle currently, but I don’t think it’d be right to say that it’s their fault.”
Tapia believes this shouldn’t have happened in the first place and Democrats should’ve succumbed to Republicans’ wishes. Tapia noticed Republicans claim Democrats are trying to give health care to “illegal aliens,” but Democrats aren’t fighting back.
If Democrats gave in to the Republican Party’s wants, they wouldn’t be questioned by Americans on what their true stance was and inevitably would see the result of Republican’s goals.
“There would have been consequences,” Tapia said. “A lot of people’s health insurance premiums would rise and then people would start getting upset with Republicans.”
As the end of the shutdown is indefinite and statewide special elections occur on Nov. 4, Chaturvedi encourages students to stay informed and updated as the shutdown moves along.
“I would encourage our students to get more involved, be informed, and talk to their members of Congress, their senators, and friends from other states because this is going to impact all of us,” Chaturvedi said.
Feature image courtesy of The White House Website