Journalist’s notebook note: why the next government closure could break the mold

A “government closure” in the Federal Wild is a rare spectacle.

Oh, people talk a lot about government closings. It is a bit like spotting an elusive species during safari in Africa. Perhaps spy on the Aurora Borealis during a trip to Quebec. Perhaps being in the “area of ​​the whole” for a solar eclipse.

Many who are now in Capitol Hill, serving in the federal government, working for the current Trump administration or as first -year students at the Congress have never witnessed a government closure. You may not know exactly what to expect. After all, the Congress and a presidential administration have not had a dialing with a government closure since the closure of 35 days at the end of 2018 and early 2019.

Garbage collection, visits to hang in Capitol Hill if there is a government closure

The American Capitol building is seen from Freedom Plaza on September 7, 2025 in Washington, DC (Yasin Ozturk / Anadolu via Getty Images)

Each stop is different. It is an almost political certainty that the sides seize periodically, forcing a government closure. This was the case with the last. President Donald Trump asked for money for his border wall. The same with the 16 -day closure on the repeal of Obamacare in 2013. Or even with a few partial but important closures at the end of 1995, extending in 1996, on the reductions in health care and environmental expenses.

Here is what we know about past closings:

Federal employees not deemed essential will not work. The soldiers and those in national security remain underway. However, everyone’s payment is pending until the closure is set. Everything that is not essential stops. National parks and museums are generally close. However, the postal service continues to operate. Passport treatment usually ends. Air traffic controllers continue to operate.

But they are not paid as long as there is no resolution. The government continues to pay social security and other retirement or health services, but there is always the possibility that federal workers who treat these checks could refuse to come and work if they are not paid and that a closure takes place.

Journalist’s notebook note: Trump cancels the meeting with the Democrats while the closure is looming

A closed panel is displayed at the entrance to the national archives to Washington, Tuesday, January 1, 2019, while a partial closure of the government extended to its third week. (Jose Luis Magana / AP Photo)

There is often a tilting point in each government closure which triggers the parties to lay their political swords and forge an agreement. This returns everyone to work.

In 2013, the police of the American Capitol were still at work without salary when they got involved in a prosecution and a high -speed shootings that started in the White House and found themselves near the building of the Senate Hart office. The police were injured in chaos. This prompted the legislators on both sides to sober and to reopen the government.

Crushing concerns about air security have contributed to ending a closure in 2019. Air traffic controllers worked for more than a month without salary. A small group of controllers has chosen to stay at home. This caused a temporary closure at Laguardia airport in New York. The problems also materialized in Newark, NJ, Atlanta and Philadelphia. The fear of a great air disaster prompted the legislators and the first Trump administration to end the closure.

Congress is different from the rest of the federal government. Indeed, article I, section 5 of the Constitution allows it to make its own rules. The room and the Senate generally meet during a closure. But the main audiences of the committee are often postponed. The legislators continue to win their pay checks. Indeed, the 27th amendment prohibits the “variation in compensation” of legislators without intermediate election. Some legislators try to say that they will not accept the salary when closing. They can try to postpone their compensation or even give it to charitable works.

The American Capitol in Washington, DC with a flying American flag. (Samuel Corum / Getty Images)

Congress staff are paid, but not before the end of a closure.

Each office of the Chamber and the Senate operates as an independent entity within the Congress. The legislators therefore decide who must come to work and who does not. Some legislators determine that only superior aid or two are “essential”. Others say they represent 750,000 people in their congress district. Therefore, all their staff members are “essential”.

But the conference institution makes decisions concerning the operations of Capitol Hill.

The American Capitol police remain in service. But restaurants, cafeterias and hair salons close during a closure. The guards are on leave. This means that garbage and garbage around the Capitol are not collected. The formal visits to the Capitol are suspended. The flag office – which manages the requests of voters to steal flags at the top of the Capitol on behalf of school groups or veterans – is closed.

Who prevails in government closures? It is difficult to assess the political advantage. It is widely believed that former President Bill Clinton won his dead end with the former president of the Newt Gingrich Chamber, R-GA., In 1995-1996. Clinton went easily to re -election in the fall of 1996. Gingrich seemed to bleed for the support of Capitol Hill after the stop. But Gingrich obtained significant expenditure reforms which finally led to a federal surplus a few years later. And the Republicans maintained control of the Chamber and the Senate in 1996.

Bill Clinton attends “an evening with President Bill Clinton and James Patterson:” The First Gentleman “” at 92ny on June 11, 2025, in New York. (Rob Kim / Getty images)

Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, designed the 2013 closure on the repeal of Obamacare. Obamacare remains the law of the country. Cruz won the re -election in 2018. Democrats did not overthrow the Chamber in 2014 while the Republicans have expanded their majority. And the GOP took control of the Senate.

The 2018-2019 judgment started even before the Chamber and the Senate judged in the first-year students elected in the middle of 2018. So dividing a political impact of this particular closure is difficult. A crowd of other factors – including the COVVI -19 pandemic – was much larger than the closure of the moment when we arrived in November 2020. Trump lost the re -election of this year. The Democrats maintained control of the Chamber in 2020 and the Democrats narrowly overturned the Senate.

But each stop is a little different. Has his own signature. A closure during Trump’s second term may be different from any other judgment we have seen.

A closure during Trump’s second term may be different from any other judgment we have seen. (Aaron Schwartz / CNP / Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The Director of the Budget of the White House, Russ Vought, published a memo this week, suggesting that there could be mass layoffs if congress credits and federal employees work on programs that do not deal with the Trump administration priorities.

Senator Chris Van Hollen, D-MD., Who represents tens of thousands of federal workers just outside Washington, DC, described this as “Mafia style blackmail”.

“Do you consider yourself the MEMB memo as a threat to make you go back or a bluff?” Yours really asked the chief of the Hakeem Jeffries minority, DN.Y.

“We will not be intimidated by Russ Vought, who is completely and completely out of control,” replied Jeffries. “Our response to Russ Vought is simple: getting lost.”

On X, Jeffries called Vought “a clever political hack”.

At this point, the sides are not even commercial offers. Just beards.

This is why political observers believe that the chances of a closure next week are astronomical. Either the Democrats really take it from the chin – and accept the GOP bill. Or the cave of the Republicans.

“We are not going to change our position. This is our position,” said Senator Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio.

Senator John Fetterman, D-P., Was the only democrat who supported the republican plan last week in the Senate.

Senator John Fetterman at the Edward Institute M. Kennedy for the American Senate on June 2, 2025 in Boston. (Scott Eisen / Getty Images)

“If someone believes that we are on a rocket sled at the autocracy, why we will give a closed government to President Trump or to Vought in Omb?” Questioned Fetterman.

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In nature, it is rare to identify an addax. A Leopard Amur. A red wolf.

Government closures are also rare. But you could soon locate a closure in nature. And you may have even attended other government closings before. But maybe not a stop like this.