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In the US, the government shutdown has
ended its third day with the threat of
job cuts hanging over staff and the
pause of public programs. President
Trump has threatened mass layoffs,
arguing it's an unprecedented
opportunity to look at cuts at what he
called Democrat agencies. There's no end
in sight with Democrats and Republicans
at odds over how to settle the funding
dispute. Lawmakers are expected to try
to resolve things with a vote in the
Senate today. I'm joined by Shannon
Felton Spence from Harvard's Belfer
Center. Thanks very much for being with
us. Are the the uh the pauses in some of
the programs taking effect yet? Is the
public starting to feel it?
Uh I think that the public will start to
feel it really going into next week, but
certainly the public servants uh that
work for the government have already
felt it. You know, when we go into a
government shutdown, they're typically
about a week long, but the longest one
was actually under President Trump the
first time. It's 35 days. Those those
federal workers are not getting paid. uh
some of them are just furoughed, others
of them uh are expected to come to work
without pay but you know the mortgage
bill still comes, the car insurance bill
still come and they are just not having
those paychecks come in. So they are
certainly feeling it acutely at the
moment and the public will start to feel
it soon.
What are the key policy areas do you
think that could shape whether there is
a resolution to this and you know the
whole politicization of this?
Well, I think that the politics of this
are the most interesting. So, the
Democrats have really dug in on healthc
care subsidies and that is not something
that the president is going to budge on
um because it is part of his uh keystone
bill, the big beautiful bill. Uh and so
I think that we are a long way from a
deal and the politics of this are that I
think that the Democrats are feeling
from their voter base uh probably an
artificial adrenaline rush at this
moment. Like I said, I'm not sure that
most people are feeling it at the tiller
in their pocketbooks yet the government
shutdown or not being able to access
their services. Uh but this is really
the first time that the party, the
Democrats have stood up to Trump since
Trump took office earlier this year. Uh
and so there is a little bit of a rush
right now that uh good, we're finally
doing something. We're finally pushing
back, but I don't see the president or
the Republicans backing down anytime
soon. And so there is going to be some
real pain and some real delay in
services that are going to come. And you
know, the hold out uh is going to start
to affect Democrats who are going to
say, "Come on, just just get a deal done
so that we can reopen up the
government." And we're going into a
midterm year, so this is actually very
important. That's what Donald Trump is
banking on.
And we've heard from Donald Trump that
he's he's targeting what he calls
Democrat agencies um and talking about
uh Russell Voit, you know, trying to
work out which programs could be axed.
Yeah. So, absolutely. And also he said
on his Truth Social last night that he
couldn't believe that the the Democrats
had given him this unprecedented
opportunity to do what he wanted to do
anyways, which is wind down the EPA, you
know, totally wind down the education
department, wind down um uh uh HUD. Uh
and and this messaging that is coming
from of Donald Trump, Donald Trump is a
political athlete. He is a political
animal. He understands his base. He
understands what riles people up. And I
am not sure that the Democrats have that
same sort of animal instinct that Donald
Trump has. And I think that this is
going to show he's not going to give in.
He's, you know, the art of the deal. He
is a hard, you know, he is a hard
negotiator and he is going to stay firm
until Democratic states, Democratic
voters really, really feel the pain and
they start to think, what can we do to
to soften this up? And they're only
going to turn against their own
representatives. And so going into a
midterm year, you know, if nothing
changed, if we didn't go into a
shutdown, maybe the Democrats pick up a
couple House seats, but Donald Trump's
approval rating has stayed the same
since April. You know, this is a very,
very difficult political environment for
the Democrats, and this shutdown, I
think, is a it is a real rift for them.
Shannon Felton sent Spence from
Harvard's Belfa Center.
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