What a Government Shutdown Actually Does
Who stops getting paid, what stays open, and why the standoffs keep happening.
A "shutdown" doesn't close the government so much as pause the parts of it that depend on annual funding.
What stops
When Congress fails to pass funding, agencies furlough non-essential workers and halt non-essential activities. National parks, routine inspections, and processing of many applications can grind to a halt.
What keeps running
Anything deemed essential to life and safety continues — air traffic control, the military, law enforcement — though many of those workers go unpaid until funding resumes. Programs funded outside the annual process, like Social Security payments, keep flowing.
Why it keeps happening
Shutdowns are a byproduct of divided government and hard deadlines. They are painful enough to be a bargaining chip and common enough that markets have learned to mostly shrug — until one drags on long enough to dent economic data.