Opinion Today: The stakes of the government shutdown

October 1, 2025

By Suein Hwang

Business, Economics and Technology Editor, Opinion

The U.S. government is officially shut down. Buried in the noise is what the two parties are actually fighting about: access to affordable health care.

“President Trump is seeking to deprive millions of Americans of their health insurance, and Senate Democrats are refusing to acquiesce,” writes the Times editorial board.

Yes. This again. Republicans never stopped wanting to gut Obamacare. Only this time, they’re succeeding. Thanks to their quiet tweaks to our health care system, almost 14 million Americans could lose their health insurance over the next decade. Why? “Thanks to Republican legislators, a 55-year-old couple making $85,000 annually could see their health insurance cost more than triple, to $24,535 a year,” explains Steven Rattner, a contributing Opinion writer. With the shutdown, Democrats are trying to regain lost ground.

In six charts, Rattner lays out what is happening — both the stunning success that Obamacare has represented and everything that will be lost if the Republicans get their way.

What’s getting overlooked in all of this is what the American public wants. On the eve of the shutdown, Newt Gingrich, a former speaker of the House, pointed to a poll in his guest essay that found that a majority of voters think shutdowns hurt Congress’s ability to help the country succeed.

As the Times editorial board writes: “The American people deserve and ought to demand better options.”

A 100-dollar bill with 10 holes where round drug tablets were pushed through.

The Editorial Board

The Real Stakes of the Shutdown

President Trump is seeking to deprive millions of Americans of their health insurance. Senate Democrats are refusing to acquiesce.

By The Editorial Board

An illustration of a battered yellow umbrella. Its pole is bent, and its fabric is torn.

Guest Essay

These 6 Charts Explain Why Democrats Shut Down the Government

What the looming shutdown is really about: Republicans trying to repeal Obamacare.

By Steven Rattner

The Capitol Dome silhouette under cloudy skies.

Guest Essay

There’s Only One Way to Win a Shutdown. Democrats Don’t Have What It Takes.

It’s hard to come out a victor without a clear objective and a clear message.

By Newt Gingrich

Here’s what we’re focusing on today:

Editors’ Picks

In a field, a large sphere painted with the U.S. flag, a bald eagle with its head bowed and the words “Pray for America.”

Tressie McMillan Cottom

When Silence Is the Only Logical Choice, Are We Really Free?

Trump is known for saying a lot of things that he can’t or won’t back up. This time, the threats are real.

By Tressie McMillan Cottom

This Terrible War Must End

The war needs to end, for the sake of the Gazan people and for the sake of Israel and its security.

By The Editorial Board

A photo illustration featuring Nicolás Maduro standing against a backdrop that includes the Venezuelan flag.

Guest Essay

Trump Isn’t Busting Drug Cartels. He’s Settling Scores.

The Trump administration’s Venezuela policy is driven by a desire for vindication and revenge.

By Christopher Sabatini

President Trump onstage in front of an American flag in an auditorium.

W.J. Hennigan

Hundreds of Officers. Two Long Hours of Political Theater.

The military was again used as a backdrop for Trump’s clashes in America’s culture wars, testing the armed services’ nonpartisan, apolitical nature.

By W.J. Hennigan

drawing of a person in a head scarf with an American flag over their mouth.

Guest Essay

What Happened to Human Rights for Palestinians?

Sanctions on small human rights groups are the latest Trump attack on global efforts to protect civil liberties.

By Agnès Callamard and Federico Borello

An image of James Talarico in jacket and tie talking into a megaphone.

Michelle Goldberg

Is This Bible-Quoting Texan the Answer to Democratic Prayers?

James Talarico sees a spiritual void at the center of our society.

By Michelle Goldberg

Workers clean up debris in a room of empty chairs and a sign reading “Trump will fix it.”

Jamelle Bouie

Trump Has No Mandate to Destroy America

What a narrow result in a closely divided nation actually means for the country and its political parties.

By Jamelle Bouie

The Opinions

The ‘Thursday Murder Club’ Author Wants Us to Rethink Aging

Richard Osman, the author of a beloved murder mystery series, discusses the revolutionary act of growing old.

26 MIN LISTEN

An F-35 jet with trailing red paint flies in the direction of Trump’s pointed finger.

Illustration by Rebecca Chew/The New York Times

letters

‘Distressing’ Uses of the President’s Power

Readers respond to an editorial about President Trump’s troubling use of executive power in the Venezuelan boat strikes. Also: Social Security woes; the importance of Black colleges.

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