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Government closures are a repeat feature of US politics – but the current situation appears particularly intractable because of shifting political forces along with bad blood among both major parties.

Certain federal operations are temporarily suspended, and about 750,000 employees are expected to be put on furlough without pay since both political parties remain unable to reach consensus on a spending bill.

Votes aimed at ending the deadlock continue to fall short, and it is hard to see a clear resolution path in this instance because each side – including the President – perceive advantages in maintaining their positions.

Here are the four ways in which this shutdown distinct in 2025.

1. For Democrats, the focus is on Trump – not just healthcare

The Democratic base has been demanding over recent periods that their party more forcefully fights the current presidency. Well now the party leadership has a chance to show their responsiveness.

Earlier this year, the Senate's top Democrat was fiercely criticised after supporting GOP budget legislation and averting a shutdown in the spring. Now he's holding firm.

This is a chance for the Democratic party to demonstrate they can take back certain authority from an administration that has moved aggressively on its agenda.

Opposing the Republican spending plan carries electoral dangers that the wider public will grow frustrated with prolonged negotiations and impacts accumulate.

The Democrats are using the budget standoff to highlight concerns about expiring health insurance subsidies and Republican-approved government healthcare cuts for the poor, which are both unpopular.

Additionally, they're attempting to restrict the President's use of presidential authority to rescind or withhold money authorized legislatively, a practice demonstrated in international assistance and various federal programs.

Second, For Republicans, it's an opportunity

The President along with a senior aide have made little secret of the fact that they perceive an opening to make more of the cutbacks to the federal workforce implemented during in the Republican's second presidency to date.

The nation's leader personally said last week that the shutdown had afforded him an "unprecedented opportunity", adding he intended to cut "Democrat agencies".

Administration officials said it would be left with a "challenging responsibility" of mass lay-offs to keep essential government services operating if the shutdown continued. An administration spokesperson said this was just "fiscal sanity".

The scope of the potential lay-offs is still uncertain, though administration officials have been consulting with the Office of Management and Budget, the budgeting office, which is headed by the administration's budget director.

The budget director has already announced the halting of government financial support for Democratic-run parts of the country, such as NYC and Illinois' largest city.

3. There's little trust between both parties

Whereas past government closures have been characterised by late-night talks among political opponents in an effort to get government services running again, there appears to be minimal cooperative willingness of collaboration this time.

Instead, there is rancour. The bad blood continued over the weekend, with Republicans and Democrats blaming each other regarding the deadlock's origin.

The legislative leader from the majority party, accused Democrats of not being serious about negotiating, and holding out over a deal "for electoral protection".

Simultaneously, the opposition's chief levelled the same accusation against their counterparts, saying that a Republican promise to discuss healthcare subsidies once the government reopens cannot be trusted.

The President himself has inflamed the situation through sharing a controversial AI-generated image featuring the opposition leader along with another senior in the House, where the legislator is depicted with traditional headwear and facial hair.

The representative with party colleagues denounced this as discriminatory, which was denied by the Vice-President.

4. The US economy is fragile

Analysts expect about 40% of the federal workforce – over 800,000 workers – to be put on unpaid leave as a result of the shutdown.

This will reduce consumer expenditure – with broader economic consequences, as environmental permitting, delayed intellectual property processing, interrupted vendor payments and other kinds of government activity connected to commercial interests cease functioning.

The closure additionally introduces fresh instability within economic systems currently experiencing disruption from multiple factors including trade measures, earlier cuts to government spending, immigration raids and artificial intelligence.

Analysts estimate that it could shave as much as 0.2 percentage points from national economic expansion for each week it lasts.

But the economy typically recoups the majority of interrupted operations after a shutdown ends, as it would after disruption after major environmental events.

That could be one reason why the stock market has appeared largely unfazed by the current stand-off.

Conversely, experts indicate should the President carries out proposed significant workforce reductions, economic harm might become extended in duration.