In the latter half of 2025, the Democrats decided to shut down the government because they were unable to pass legislation they desired (the extension of COVID-inspired temporary increases of government subsidies for health care premiums).
Closing the government because you got out-voted is a
terrible action to take. It undermines
our government, using extortion to try to get your way. It sets a terrible precedent that could keep
the government from ever getting funded because there are always a lot of bills
which one side or the other would have liked to go “the other way”.
Ironically, in this case, the Democrats were objecting to a
law they had drafted and passed during President Biden’s administration. Regardless of who passed the unliked law, an
unliked vote is NOT proper grounds to close the government.
However, our Executive Branch has broken international law
(killing people hanging on to a destroyed boat in the Caribbean) and US law
(civil rights violations by ICE). As an effort
to restrain an Executive Branch that is violating law, closing down the government
seems clearly appropriate to me. Why
wouldn’t you stop funding an entity that is not doing its job properly?
If you believe that the Executive Branch has reformed and
won’t commit the violations cited in the previous paragraph, the justification
of closing the government becomes more blurred.
Unfortunately, there is strong reason to doubt that the Executive Branch
has mended its ways. Shutting down the
government for stronger assurances seems justified.
If they believe the government has mended its ways, the Democrats
might argue that a government shutdown is appropriate because the Executive
Branch is deporting people who have been here many years without having
violated laws (other than their immigrant status) and have been contributing to
the country as parents, students, employees, and taxpayers. The deportations are actions that the
Executive Branch has taken without Congressional authorization. From my perspective, a better approach would
be to stimulate a vote in Congress.
Sadly, Congress has rules that sometimes block votes even
when a majority of the members of the House or Senate want to vote on them. These rules should be ended. While these rules are in place, the “solution”
I recommend in the previous paragraph may be unavailable. Under these circumstances, the propriety of a
government shutdown is less clear to me.
