As the federal government shutdown stretches into its fourth day, the impasse between Republicans and Democrats shows no immediate signs of breaking. With funding lapsed since October 1, non-essential services hang in the balance, and political finger-pointing intensifies. Democrats have been receiving an unprecedented volume of blame for the “Schumer Shutdown” as some in legacy media have uncharacteristically reported some of the truth.
Richard Stern, director of the Grover M. Hermann Center for the Federal Budget at the Heritage Foundation, points to two specific pay dates that could shift the dynamics: October 10 for essential federal workers and October 15 for military personnel.
Stern explains that these deadlines carry real weight because “at the end of the day, I think they’re going to get the blame that I think they deserve,” referring to Democrats who rejected a Republican-backed temporary funding bill.
This bill aimed to keep government operations running for seven weeks while negotiations continued, but Democrats held firm on demands to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies to illegal aliens. Elaborating on this standoff, Stern describes the Democratic approach as one where they “stomp [their] feet and make a dramatic situation out of it.”
Such tactics, he argues, prioritize controversial spending items like foreign aid for transgender surgeries and abortions, increased funding for NPR and PBS, and a massive $1.5 trillion welfare program extension that would strip away anti-fraud measures and broaden eligibility to legal aliens. This perspective aligns with broader Republican criticisms that Democrats are leveraging the shutdown to push unrelated policy goals, as echoed in statements from the White House, which has launched a “shutdown clock” to track the disruption and attribute it to Democratic intransigence.
One Democratic voice capturing this resolve comes from Rep. Shri Thanedar, D-Mich., who declared, “We got to make sure Americans have the healthcare that they need, and if that means we’ve got to shut the government down, so be it.”
Hellbound and Down 