Who’s in the right on a federal shutdown?

The federal government faces a shutdown — a lapse in the ability to fund itself — on Sunday unless House Republicans can resolve differences on spending between its right wing and traditionally conservative factions.

Is that a prospect that worries you, or is this all a necessary standoff in the ongoing effort to rein in federal largesse?

That's our Question of the Week for readers.

So is this: Since this impasse is reached essentially every congressional term, is it all some kind of kabuki theater in the end? Is there a better way to run a railroad — or powers that exists in Washington, D.C. — than this continual political brinkmanship? Or is it necessary to have the threat of a shutdown as leverage on the part of members of Congress who want reform on government spending? Do you think the shutdown will happen, or will the two factions huddle and reach a compromise before the Sunday deadline?

For his part, President Joe Biden says a “government shutdown could impact everything from food safety to cancer research to Head Start programs for children.” He blames the situation “on a small group of extreme Republicans” who are against a spending deal he made earlier this year with Speaker Kevin McCarthy. “Now everyone in America could be forced to pay the price.”

In the early days of a shutdown , the financial hit would be felt mostly by millions of federal employees and contractors who would be off the job — although members of the military can't be off the job; they just wouldn't be paid. And in the 2019 shutdown, some airport security screeners who weren't being paid stopped showing up. In a 1980s shutdown, callers to the White House were informed by message machine that there was no one available to take their call.

Is the so-called Wrecking-Ball Caucus of rightwing House members correct to stand up for their beliefs that Speaker McCarthy is too quick to compromise with the White House? Or are Republican members who want to buy time with a short-term deal while talks go on correct?

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