Congress has completely abdicated its responsibility for managing the people’s money. If you go back to the Congressional records in the early 1800’s you will see Congress scrutinized expenses such as buying a new canon for a fort.
Today, they simply turn over the budget to staff members who collude with lobbyists, the federal bureaucracy, social justice groups, corporations, and other interested parties to create huge pork fill omnibus spending bills to which Congressmen and Senators attach their own earmarks. At the very last minute the bill is trotted out, with the media doing its role in creating hysteria the government is going to be shut down if this bill isn’t passed. The bill passes, and your GOP Congresscritter says he opposed it and did his/her best but couldn’t allow the government to shutdown. Your Congressperson then goes out with lobbyist friends to enjoy a private obscene dinner and party to celebrate once again pulling the wool over the eyes of the sheep.
Rinse and repeat. Until the country implodes.
And remember that the way the media is , government shutdowns are always blamed on the Republicans.
Facts don’t matter in such a case. It doesn’t matter if the Democrat is President, Or Democrats in Congress are doing different things, the blame for the shutdown will always fall on Republicans. And perhaps that fact intimidates Republicans for their reactions to such situations.