When I was a public school teacher, we got a new principal. Some welcomed the change, others hated it. That’s the thing about regime changes – they happen everywhere, and never is everyone happy about it. Such is the nature of politics. 

For example, I remember when Randy got fired from managing the gas station down the street because “He was stealing from the register.” I’d like to think he was liberating the cash and redistributing it to the needy (such as his friends, like me, who would get to leave with a free slushie and twenty bucks. Good times, being on the receiving end of political kickbacks).

Anyways, some people liked the new principal, and others clearly did not. After a few staff meetings filled with incessant bickering, the teachers simply could not see eye to eye with each other or with the principal. So you know what everyone did? We decided we weren’t gonna go to work anymore. The school was shut down, and we still got paid the whole time. 

Just kidding — obviously.

Because in what job category besides “Politician” can you just not do your work and still get paid because you disagree with your colleagues(1)?

This made me curious about the history of government shutdowns: Where did this power come from? Why is it an option available to Congress? What about the people affected by the shutdown? How do politicians resolve these impasses?

Like most government powers, there’s a strange origin story. Here it is:

In the late 1970s, Jimmy Carter was smoking a joint, thinking about the extent of his Presidential powers in relation to Congress (for those of you dubious of this assertion: I dare you to tell me Jimmy didn’t seem like he was cool enough to have his platform disco shoes up on the desk in the Oval Office while contemplating why do we live and why do we die). 

Also, remember those days when Presidents actually considered the rule of law and powers of the other branches of government? Good ol’ political nostalgia. 

Back to what I was saying: So Jimmy Carter had some questions about the Antideficiency Act and the power to make employees at federal agencies work if the budget isn’t approved by Congress (1 NPR). He calls his colleague, Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti – who doesn’t smoke pot but doesn’t mind being around people who do - to ask him what he thinks. Civiletti said “no way Jim-ay,” before going on to write a couple of legal opinions in 1980 and 1981 that cemented the practice: federal agencies cannot keep doing their work if there’s a gap in funding, with exceptions made for some services the government considers vital (2, 3).

Okay – so Civiletti’s legal opinions set the foundation for the government shutdown if Congress does not approve the budget. But is the power to initiate a government shutdown important for Congress to have?

The US Government Accountability Office - which ironically has a message on its website saying it can’t keep the government accountable due to this “lapse in appropriations” – offers more information on the significance of the shutdown. They contend that the government shutdown is part of Congress’s power to control coin; in other words, Congress can challenge and even curb the President’s agenda by refusing to fund federal agencies (4). This, combined with Civiletti’s opinion preventing federal agencies from operating during this time – barring some exceptions — makes the government shutdown a tool in the legislative belt to assure there are checks and balances with the executive branch.

Prior to Civiletti’s legal opinions, there were five times Congress failed to approve funding for federal agencies (5). After Civiletti’s writings, there have been fifteen government shutdowns (6). The longest shutdown occurred during Trump’s previous presidency – December 2018 into January 2019 - which lasted 34 days (7). There’s also a price tag to a government shutdown - it’s estimated the US economy lost over $3 billion in the 34-day shutdown of 2018-19 (8). 

Alright, so the government shutdown is an important power for Congress to check the executive branch. Got it. 

But what about all those employees of federal agencies? Their families? What happens to them?

Well, typically furloughed workers get back pay after the shutdown is over. However, the executive branch through Trump has suggested that they will try to figure out a way to not pay some workers, despite the illegality of this move (9). If Trump does decide to challenge back pay for furloughed workers, we’ll see a legal battle play out that would likely end up before the Supreme Court and its conservative-leaning court. 

What about the furloughed employees in the meantime?

I messaged a dear friend of mine who lives with her partner and daughter in a home they just bought. She’s an employee with a federal agency, and admits it’s going to hurt when they miss a paycheck. The promise of back pay seems just, and the executive threatening back pay is terrible. But in the meantime, people still need to pay for food. Rent. Mortgage. Childcare. Electricity. And on top of the burdens families face, I’m sure the US government doesn’t want another $3 billion hit like they took in 2018-19. 

What to do? What to do?

I have an idea. 

What if we treat governmental impasses and the politicians wrapped up in them like we would treat bickering siblings? We make them all live in a confined space. They have to eat their meals together. They have to make impassioned, tearful arguments over who gets to shower and at what time so the water is still hot. They can have sibling fight club off in the corner somewhere for the ones who need to punch each other to work their s**t out. They can argue about how they’ll vote for what to watch on the TV, and who is the most trustworthy to give the remote to so no one changes the channel. And no one gets to leave this confined space until they learn how to act right, because why would you give more freedom to a bunch of petty politicians who are doing such a poor job already? 

Some might describe this enclosed, you-can’t-leave-until-we-say-you-can-leave place as a prison. Which, fair. But some might just call this my grandma’s house and my grandma’s rules. And I remember having to take some cold showers. And I remember winning more than losing in family fight club. And I remember having to watch novelas on Telemundo that must have casted the worst, most dramatic actors they could find on purpose. 

Yet at some point I remember thinking, “We all want similar things, right? We might not all get what we want, but how do we all get what we need?” Because even though you might wanna Ninja Turtle kick them in the face, they are family. And they’re here to stay, just like you are. So it makes more sense to figure out how to coexist. 

Also, we should definitely record and televise Government House because it would make outstanding trash tv. I call dibs on the concept.

Footnotes:

(1) Yilek, C. & Becket, S. (2025). “Does Congress get paid during a government shutdown?” CBS News. Accessed 12 Oct. 2025. https:/ /www.cbsnews.com/news/government-shutdown-2025-does-congress-get-paid/

(2) Treisman, R. (2025). “When will the government reopen? Here’s how long past shutdowns lasted” NPR Special Series, 2025 Government Shutdown. Accessed 12 Oct. 2025. https://www.npr.org/ 2025/10/01/nx-s1-5559267/government-shutdown-length-history

(3) Quinn, M. (2025). “A history of government shutdowns: The 14 other times funding has lapsed since 1980.” CBS News. Accessed 12 Oct. 2025. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/government-shutdown- history-congress/

(4)US Government and Accountability Office. “Shutdown/Lapses in Appropriations.” Accessed 12. Oct. 2025. https://www.gao.gov/ legal/appropriations-law/lapses-in-appropriations

(5) Chiwaya, N. (2025). “How long do government shutdowns last? How often do they happen?” NBC News. Accessed 12 Oct. 2025. https://www.nbcnews.com/data-graphics/longest-government-shutdown-us-history-president-administration-rcna234766

(6) Quinn, M. (2025). “A history of government shutdowns: The 14 other times funding has lapsed since 1980.”

(7) Chiwaya, N. (2025). “How long do government shutdowns last? How often do they happen?” 

(8)Delaney, N. (2025): “Explainer: Why government shutdowns keep happening in the United States” Harvard Kennedy School. Accessed 12 Oct. 2025. https://www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty-research/ policy-topics/democracy-governance/explainer-why-government-shutdowns-keep

(9)Zahn, M. (2025). “Could Trump deny back pay to furloughed government employees?” ABC News. Accessed 12 Oct. 2025.