Houston Keene, Townhall
It is not every day that one sees the federal government shut down. While this seems like a scary situation, and it can be, the reality is that this has happened before and will likely happen again in today’s hyper-tribalized political landscape.
I would know. I was a congressional staffer during the 2018 government shutdown.
There is a bit of a silver lining: an opportunity to trim the federal government’s fat. President Trump and his administration are already reining in the federal government through long-overdue layoffs across the board. These layoffs free up federal dollars to serve American citizens. They make the government skinnier and remove the teeth of the sprawling bureaucracy that resists accountability.
One of Congress’s constitutional duties is to ensure the federal government is funded and working for the American people.
It has failed to do this. In more sensible times, the shutdown might be a crisis that shouldn’t be wasted: with the political conversation focused on funding, now would be the time to begin surgery on the federal government’s bloated belly.