Updates on the Government Shutdown

October 14th, 2025
Jack Zhou

With the government shutdown approaching the two-week mark, Democrats are showing no signs of backing down without healthcare concessions—and they have good reason. According to polling from many news sources, more people are blaming Republicans over Democrats, with an Ipsos poll highlighting that 67% of people say Republicans are at fault compared to only 63% who blame Democrats. A deeper breakdown reveals that from those numbers, 38% of people blame Republicans a “great deal” for the shutdown, whereas Democrats are blamed a “great deal” by 31% of people. In fact, President Trump has the greatest deal of blame, with 42% believing he is to be blamed a “great deal.” But, with all this being said, why are Democrats—the party that is supposed to be losing support—gaining so much traction?

The main reason has to do with healthcare. At a time when the President is using executive power in unprecedented ways to crack down on immigration, impose sweeping tariffs and seemingly unilaterally circumvent the power of Congress, there were a multitude of fights the Democrats could have chosen to pick. Yet, they chose to make the shutdown about a fight for healthcare. That is because healthcare has always been a popular area for Democrats and a place where they consistently win support. This time around, Democrats are advocating to extend Affordable Care Act credits. In the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Republicans failed to install an extension of the Enhanced Premium Tax Credits under the ACA. Without these extensions, premium pays are set to more than double on average next year. Furthermore, these extensions impact Democrats and Republicans alike, with 59% of Republicans actually supporting extending the credits. Democrats say that they will not end the shutdown unless Republicans agree to include these tax credit extensions in the next piece of fiscal legislation.

The government shutdown is viewed by many as a desperate attempt by Democrats to rein in the power of President Trump. Despite this, Trump has only been trying to expand his power and capitalize on this shutdown–notably with mass firings. What the White House refers to as “reductions in force” or “RIFs,” thousands of workers see this as the loss of their jobs and potentially their livelihoods. On Friday morning, the White House Office of Management Director Russell Vought announced on X that the “RIFs have begun,” and with that, 4,000 workers were notified of being laid off. Trump has repeatedly threatened to use the shutdown to reduce the federal workforce, and 4,000 workers are most likely just the beginning.

Trump is not just hurting active workers, but furloughed workers as well. A recent White House memo stated that furloughed workers–workers on temporary unpaid leave due to the shutdown–are not entitled to back pay. This could deny up to 750,000 federal workers compensation after the shutdown. Trump is trying to pressure Democrats to reopen the government, but instead is only justifying their resistance.

Clearly, the stakes for this government shutdown are high. If Democratic messaging around healthcare continues resonating, the shutdown may prove a political liability for Republicans. Republicans could face even more backlash if Trump continues his layoffs and threats towards back pay. For now, all we can do is hope that over the next few days, or even weeks, Congress can come together and agree on a healthcare deal that reopens the government, because if they don’t, hundreds of thousands of workers will stay without jobs, and thousands more could face the scythe of the Trump Administration's mass firings.