– English Lyrics

Lyrics & Translation

[English]

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.

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
shutdown /ˈshʌt.daʊn/ B1	noun - a temporary closure or suspension of operations
threat /θrɛt/ A2	noun - a statement of an intention to inflict harm or injury
layoffs /ˈleɪ.ɔːfs/ B1	noun - the termination of employment for workers
unprecedented /ʌnˈprɛsɪˌdɛntɪd/ C1	adjective - never done or known before
resolve /rɪˈzɑːlv/ B1	verb - to find a solution to a problem
furoughed /ˈfɜːrəʊdʒd/ B2	verb - to temporarily lay off workers
mortgage /ˈmɔːr.ɡɪdʒ/ B1	noun - a loan to buy property
acute /əˈkjuːt/ B2	adjective - intense or severe
subsidies /ˈsʌb.sɪ.diz/ B2	noun - financial assistance from the government
keystone /ˈkiː.stəʊn/ C1	noun - a central principle or part of a policy
politicization /ˌpɒl.ɪ.tɪˌsaɪˈzeɪ.ʃən/ C1	noun - the act of making something political
adrenaline /əˈdrɛn.ə.lɪn/ B2	noun - a hormone that increases heart rate and energy
rift /rɪft/ B2	noun - a split or division
axed /ækst/ B1	verb - to end or stop something abruptly
messaging /ˈmɛs.ɪdʒ.ɪŋ/ B2	noun - the conveying of a message or information