Shutdown Pain Spreading.
The pain is deepening. But Republicans and Democrats are only becoming angrier and more estranged over a government shutdown with no end in sight.
The impasse is heading toward a third week, with hundreds of thousands of federal workers furloughed, the Smithsonian museums and the National Zoo closed, and the nation’s air traffic control system becoming strained. An already acrimonious political duel took a nasty turn Friday night when the administration fired hundreds of bureaucrats to punish Democrats, although some dismissals at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were hurriedly canceled.
Repercussions of the shutdown are getting more serious as a slow-boil crisis worsens. But so far, there’s no sign of a breakthrough, nor any serious talks between rival lawmakers on Capitol Hill to open the government.
Analysis by
Shutdown politics is now as American as apple pie. The blame game pols start being conducted almost right away because that determines the winner of the grand shutdown game. The American electorate is now complacent when it comes to shutdowns. The shock and awe of the original shutdowns of the 1990s has long since faded and the Feds running out of money is well tolerated if not adored by the public but its part of the landscape.
