The U.S. government has officially entered a shutdown after lawmakers failed to reach a funding agreement before the midnight deadline, halting nonessential federal services and forcing hundreds of thousands of workers into furlough. While budget disputes have triggered shutdowns in the past, Democrats are pinning the current crisis squarely on Donald Trump, accusing the former president of exerting chaotic influence over Republican lawmakers who walked away from a bipartisan deal at the last moment.
Federal agencies ranging from national parks to food safety inspections are beginning to scale back operations, while paychecks for military personnel and federal employees are on hold. Economists caution that even a short shutdown can have ripple effects on the economy, particularly for working families already facing high costs of living.
Democrats argue that the shutdown is less about fiscal policy and more about Trump’s dominance over House Republicans. They say Trump urged GOP lawmakers to reject compromise legislation to keep the government open, framing any bipartisan deal as a betrayal of his political movement. Several Democratic leaders labeled Trump’s involvement as reckless, with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer calling it “a shutdown manufactured by an unhinged ex-president who still dictates the Republican Party’s agenda from the sidelines.”
Republican leadership remains divided, with some members insisting on deeper spending cuts and others wary of the political fallout of appearing to follow Trump’s lead. Inside the party, tensions are mounting between lawmakers seeking pragmatic governance and those aligned with Trump’s confrontational approach. With no immediate resolution in sight, Americans face uncertainty over when the government will reopen, while Democrats continue to stress that the chaos stems not from negotiations but from Trump’s influence over a fractured GOP.