Party leaders in Congress have long criticized government shutdowns as toxic and destructive. “Always a bad idea,” former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said of shutdowns in 2024. A potential “disaster,” Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said of the shutdown the country narrowly avoided when he voted with Republicans to keep the government open in March. “I don’t think shutdowns benefit anybody, least of all the American people,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said last week. Yet Congress often finds itself at the brink of one as the two major political parties’ differences grow ... (full story)