Thursday, October 02, 2025
PMT: The Shutdown
In late 1995 and early 1996, I was a federal employee during a 21-day shutdown of the government during the Clinton administration. As a federal prosecutor, I was an essential worker and continued doing my job, though we were not paid until after the shutdown ended. It was an odd time, but not too much of a hardship (for people like me, anyways); it came over the holidays when many people weren't at work anyways and our work didn't stop.
I have a hunch this shutdown could be much more calamitous. There is the prospect of permanent changes being done to employment and workplaces while the government mechanisms are shut down, and federal workers are already under much more stress-- from layoffs, buyouts, losing union protections, and more-- than existed under Clinton.
Democrats have almost no other leverage right now, and have a strong incentive to maintain that leverage. Republicans are unlikely to make concessions anytime soon.
The shutdown will create shadows, and bad things happen in the shadows.
