Government Shutdown Looms: Congress Faces Midnight Deadline

Congress is hoping to get the sign-off from President Trump by tonight or risk a government shutdown, drastically affecting institution operations across the country.

If a bipartisan compromise can’t be reached tonight, many government offices will temporarily close, furloughing employees and ceasing function. The United States government is expected to run out of money at midnight Eastern Standard Time tonight, unless congressional leaders can reach a funding agreement that pleases all congressional lawmakers.

Both parties met with the President at the White House yesterday as a last-ditch effort before tonight’s deadline, but no resolution was reached.

“If it has to shut down, it’ll have to shut down,” Trump said Friday, according to ABC News. “But they’re [Democrats] the ones that are shutting down government.”

Congressional Democrats have, once again, blocked the Republicans’ plan for more federal funding over a dispute on healthcare. Republicans reportedly want to push off addressing Medicaid, tax credits and such until later this year, which Democrat lawmakers keep rejecting.

Democratic votes have been continuously withheld from the Republicans’ push to keep the government open, with plans for an orderly shutdown underway, per The New York Times.

“I think we’re headed to a shutdown because the Democrats won’t do the right thing,” Vice President JD Vance said after the meeting Monday afternoon, according to ABC News.

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The shutdown could directly impact as many as 4 million federal employees, who may be living without pay. Additionally, roughly 2 million military troops could be forced to work without pay, including the hundreds of National Guard employees currently deployed in major U.S. cities, including Los Angeles.

Agencies like TSA, the FDA, the Labor Department, Medicare and Social Security may all be affected by nationwide slowdowns, meaning — of many calamitous aftereffects — food safety cannot be necessarily confirmed and certain life-saving payments could face distribution issues.

This would be the first government shutdown since 2019, during Trump’s first term, which was the longest federal shutdown in history at 35 days.