Why the stakes for this shutdown are higher
Consider This from NPR
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4.1 • 5.3K Ratings
🗓️ 29 September 2025
⏱️ 12 minutes
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Summary
A government shutdown is always a political gamble. For Democrats, the stakes of this one are even higher.
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This episode was produced by Connor Donevan and Alejandra Marquez Janse, with audio engineering by Jay Czyz. It was edited by Kelsey Snell, Courtney Dorning and Sarah Handel. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.
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Transcript
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| 0:23.5 | The political theater around the government shutdown that could be hours away feels a lot like the |
| 0:28.7 | ones that have come before. There are the accusations of hostage taking. Here's Senate Majority Leader |
| 0:34.8 | John Thune on NBC's Meet the Press over the weekend. |
| 0:38.5 | What the Democrats have done here is take the federal government as a hostage, and for that matter, by extension the American people, to try and get a whole laundry list of things that they want. |
| 0:49.5 | You see, Republicans need Democrats help to clear the 60 vote threshold in the Senate. |
| 0:55.5 | But Democrats say they'll only give it if Republicans agree to undo some of the cuts to health care programs |
| 1:00.2 | that they just passed in their big bill this summer. Republicans had different fiscal priorities |
| 1:05.8 | during the shutdown fight in 2013, but President Obama's response, it's almost identical. |
| 1:11.9 | They don't get to hold the entire economy hostage over ideological demands. |
| 1:16.3 | Then there are the attempts to paint the other side as irrational. |
| 1:20.1 | The president is giving Democrats one last chance to be reasonable today. |
| 1:23.3 | That was White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt Monday morning. |
| 1:26.9 | You can hear a similar tactic from President Bill Clinton in 1995, after House Speaker Newt Gingrich admitted that a snub on Air Force One had factored into negotiations around that year's shutdown. |
| 1:39.9 | I can tell you this, if it would get the government open, I'd be glad to tell him I'm sorry. |
| 1:45.8 | Here's what's different, though. |
| 1:47.2 | When Congress doesn't pass a funding bill, the White House has broad discretion in determining which operations continue. |
| 1:54.1 | President Trump has suggested he may use that power to target Democratic priorities. |
| 1:58.9 | A lot of the things that Democrats fight for, which in many |
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