How Lawmakers Are Responding to the Shutdown

"Three weeks before Thanksgiving, "the administration has chosen to not find money to fund the food-assistance program for some 42 million Americans," Jeff Zeleny, the chief national-affairs correspondent at CNN, said last night. "But they have found money for military payments and ICE officers and others. That choice, he added, "is beginning to catch up with the administration and Republicans.""

"Meanwhile, "Democrats seem to be much more dug in than they were before Tuesday," Atlantic staff writer Mark Leibovich noted. "I think they seem emboldened by Tuesday's elections.""

"Joining the editor in chief of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, to discuss this and more: Leigh Ann Caldwell, the chief Washington correspondent at Puck; David Ignatius, a foreign-affairs columnist at The Washington Post; Mark Leibovich, a staff writer at The Atlantic; and Jeff Zeleny, the chief national-affairs correspondent at CNN."

The government shutdown has become the longest in history, stretching into late November and threatening basic services ahead of Thanksgiving. The administration did not find funds for the food-assistance program that serves roughly 42 million Americans while allocating money for military payments and ICE officers. That funding allocation is creating political consequences for the administration and House Republicans. Democrats have hardened their stance and appear emboldened by recent elections. Journalists note growing voter and lawmaker reactions as the shutdown’s real-world impacts on vulnerable populations intensify and the political stakes rise.

Read at The Atlantic