Stephen Farnsworth, political science and international affairs at the University of Mary Washington, said the administration’s strategy of sustaining select programs while tightening pressure on Democrats suggests the shutdown may be less a short-term funding lapse than a calculated battle over the future of federal spending and health care policy. “Democrats find it difficult to make a deal with Republicans in Congress when the president has shown little interest in following the terms of existing laws on the federal budget,” Farnsworth said.
