If Congress doesn’t agree on a spending package by tomorrow at midnight, the federal government will shut down. I’d say “don’t threaten me with a good time,” but I’m just so tired of seeing this movie.

Put another way, budgeting expert Veronique De Rugy writes, “We are once again on the brink of a government shutdown because Congress insists on turning the most basic housekeeping chore into a hostage drama.”

Indeed, the most basic job of Congress is passing a series of appropriations bills to fund the federal government’s functions. Ideally, those functions would remain in constitutional bounds, though that ship sailed a long time ago. For the last 15 years or so, Congress lurches from continuing resolution to shutdown and back again, all for the sheer fun of going before the cameras to tell Americans how awful the other party is.

The House passed a “clean” continuing resolution two weeks ago and then left town. The Senate is at a stalemate.

De Rugy explains, “Democrats in the Senate blocked the clean CR because leadership wants to leverage the deadline into a demand for an additional $1.5 trillion in permanent spending.” The Dems march in lockstep and demand all the right (read: wrong) things to ensure a stalemate and a shutdown. In this case, Democrats oppose continuing the same spending levels as those signed by Joe Biden’s autopen in December 2024 and again by President Trump in March.

The Washington Post gives the details: “The Democrats’ proposal would also restore some funding that has been frozen by the Trump administration, reverse cuts to Medicaid enacted under the GOP’s tax and immigration bill, and return $491 million to public broadcasting that was rescinded in July.”

Democrats always have an easy time blaming Republicans for shutdowns. First of all, they have the help of the Leftmedia, and second, at this particular juncture, the GOP does control both chambers of Congress and the White House.

President Donald Trump has a scheduled meeting today with House Speaker Mike Johnson, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to attempt a deal. Trump previously canceled a Thursday meeting with Jeffries and Schumer after declining their “unserious and ridiculous” demands.

Republicans are gradually improving their messaging. A week ago, Johnson posted a montage of Democrats decrying the very shutdown they are forcing.

Under President Biden, Democrats insisted we must keep the government open.

Now under President Trump they’re saying the opposite.

Last week every single House Democrat but one voted to SHUT DOWN the government.

WATCH Democrats in their own words explain how damaging that is. pic.twitter.com/RNPNpCqheX

— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) September 22, 2025

Trump has threatened to use a shutdown to fire federal workers and shrink the government. That’s a far better bit of theater than Barack Obama’s decision to spend money and time literally blockading open-air monuments in Washington, DC, before a shutdown during his tenure.

Just a few months ago, Democrats were arguing that a shutdown would bring “chaos” and shouldn’t happen. Now, they’re itching to cause a shutdown. What changed?

Well, when you believe Trump is a fascist authoritarian, there are no holds barred. In Congress, that means shutting down the government to prevent the fascist from getting his way. In other arenas, it means assassinating free speech advocates because you think they are “haters.”

The inconvenience of a shutdown is nothing compared to this supposedly noble stand. It’s all lies, of course, but when has that ever stopped the Left?

Follow Nate Jackson on X/Twitter.