The prospect of a government shutdown this weekend has forced yet another Trump-less Republican debate Wednesday night to the proverbial back pages.
Unless Congress passes and the president signs 12 appropriations bills or, failing that, a continuing resolution, the federal government, or at least much of it, will shut down at midnight on Saturday. While it is not quite as apocalyptic as it sounds—after all, air-traffic controllers and the military will still be at their posts—it still risks a shock to the economy, to say nothing of unsettling voters and doing further reputational damage to the United States on the international stage.
There have been 10 at least partial government shutdowns since 1980, though four were of only a day or less in duration and three more lasted less than a week. The longer shutdowns were 21 days in 1995-1996 (actually two different shutdowns less than a month apart), when Bill Clinton was in the White House and Republicans controlled Congress; 16 days during Barack Obama’s tenure when Congress was split; and 35 days under President Trump, when Republicans held
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