As I have said over the years, I am not at all concerned about a federal government shutdown. My worry is that it might open back up again.
A shutdown is an occasional phenomenon wherein hundreds of thousands of government bureaucrats have to stop not working for a few weeks.
Given past shutdowns, we are now at the point where government workers know they have the best of all worlds. They get to stay at home, get paid when the government reopens and not have to work for weeks. It is the trifecta for a bureaucrat.
It is important for politicians to pin the blame for any impending shutdown on the other side. The last standoff saw Nancy Pelosi shutting down the government because she refused to fund Donald Trump’s border wall. You do not want to get into blinksmanship with Nancy Pelosi to see who is the first one to blink. She hasn’t been able to blink since 2011.
Maybe that is why Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell locks up. Like blinking, if you negotiate and just stare, the other side folds and gives you what you want.