The government shutdown extended into its seventh day this morning, as two proposals—one from Democrats, the other from Republicans—failed in the Senate on Monday night. The standoff began on October 1, when Congress failed to pass a funding bill after clashing over whether to maintain or extend certain Affordable Care Act subsidies. (For more on the basics, read Gabe Fleisher’s explainer from last week.) About 750,000 federal workers were sent home, while those deemed “essential” continued to work, but without pay.

It’s the first government shutdown in six years, and its effects are already being felt: staffing shortages were reported Monday night at a dozen Federal Aviation Administration facilities, and a flight leaving Burbank, California, was delayed when its control tower was “closed due to staffing.” Meanwhile, a leaked White House memo suggests furloughed federal employees may not receive back pay once the shutdown ends—an apparent violation of a 2019 law guaranteeing repayment for missed wages.

Today, we bring you three pieces to help make sense of the drama in Washington—and the bigger issues behind the headlines.

First, Matt Continetti examines the core policy fight: whether to extend pandemic-era healthcare subsidies, which would cost $350 billion over the next decade. The upshot of this fight, he argues, is that Washington is woefully unable to tackle runaway spending. If the government can’t rein in spending that was meant to be temporary, how can it ever hope to tackle the $38 trillion national debt? Read Matt on why the deficit hawks are losing:

As you may have noticed, the public fight over the shutdown has been a little light on policy details. Instead, it has devolved into meme warfare: Trump posting an AI parody of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries in a sombrero on Truth Social, and Democrats responding with a kitten video on X. And according to River Page, the Democrats are losing the fight. Read his piece to find out why—and what the opposition party can do to fix it.

Finally, Tyler Cowen zooms out and looks at the economic policy big picture. He does not like what he sees—in particular, a president with a growing appetite for influencing major companies, from tech to pharma to mining. This marks a dangerous shift, argues Tyler. “American business has been world-beating,” he writes, “in large part because we avoid these sorts of public-private arrangements.” Here’s Tyler on Trump the statist:

—The Editors