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Government closures have become a recurring feature in American political life – but this one feels especially difficult to resolve due to shifting political forces along with bad blood among both major parties.

Some government services are temporarily suspended, and about 750,000 people likely to be placed on unpaid leave as Republicans and Democrats remain unable to reach consensus on a spending bill.

Votes aimed at ending the impasse have repeatedly failed, with little visibility on an off-ramp in this instance as each side – including the nation's leader – can see some merit in digging in.

Here are several key factors in which things feel different currently.

1. For Democrats, the focus is on Trump – beyond healthcare issues

Democratic supporters have insisted for months that their party adopt stronger opposition against the Trump administration. Currently the party leadership has a chance to show they have listened.

In March, the Senate's top Democrat was fiercely criticised after supporting a Republican spending bill thus preventing a shutdown early this year. This time he's digging in.

This presents an opportunity for Democrats to show their ability to reclaim some control from a presidency that has moved aggressively on its agenda.

Refusing to back the Republican spending plan carries electoral dangers that the wider public may become impatient as the dispute drags on and impacts accumulate.

Democratic representatives are leveraging the budget standoff to highlight concerns about ending healthcare financial support together with Republican-approved federal health program reductions for the poor, both facing public opposition.

They are also trying to restrict the President's use of his executive powers to rescind or withhold money approved by Congress, which he has done in international assistance and various federal programs.

2. For Republicans, they see potential

The President and one of his key officials have openly indicated of the fact that they smell a chance to make more of the cutbacks in government employment that have featured the current presidential term so far.

The nation's leader personally stated recently that the shutdown provided him with an "unprecedented opportunity", and that he would look to reduce funding for "opposition-supported departments".

Administration officials said it would be left with the "unenviable task" of mass lay-offs to keep essential government services operating if the shutdown continued. The Press Secretary described this as "fiscal sanity".

The extent of possible job cuts remains unclear, but the White House has been in discussions with the Office of Management and Budget, or OMB, which is headed by the administration's budget director.

The budget director has already announced the suspension of federal funding for regions governed by of the country, including New York City and Chicago.

3. There's little trust on either side

While previous shutdowns have been characterised by late-night talks between the two parties aimed at restoring government services running again, there appears to be minimal cooperative willingness for compromise presently.

Conversely, animosity prevails. Political tensions persisted recently, with Republicans and Democrats blaming each other for causing the impasse.

The legislative leader from the majority party, charged opposition members with insufficient commitment about negotiating, and holding out during discussions "to get political cover".

Meanwhile, the Senate leader levelled the same accusation against their counterparts, saying that a Republican promise to discuss healthcare subsidies once the government reopens can not be taken seriously.

The President himself has inflamed the situation by posting a controversial AI-generated image featuring the opposition leader and the top Democrat opposition figure, in which the legislator appears wearing a large Mexican-style sombrero and facial hair.

The affected legislator with party colleagues called this racist, which was denied by the administration's second-in-command.

4. The US economy is fragile

Analysts expect approximately two-fifths of government employees – over 800,000 workers – to face furlough due to the shutdown.

This will reduce consumer expenditure – with broader economic consequences, including halted environmental approvals, delayed intellectual property processing, payments to contractors along with various forms of federal operations connected to commercial interests comes to a halt.

The closure additionally introduces new uncertainty within economic systems already being roiled by changes ranging from tariffs, previous budget reductions, immigration raids and technological advancements.

Economic forecasters project that it could shave as much as 0.2 percentage points from national economic expansion weekly during the closure.

However, economic activity generally rebounds most of that lost activity after a shutdown ends, as it would after disruption caused by a natural disaster.

That could be one reason why the stock market have shown limited reaction by the current stand-off.

On the other hand, analysts say that if administration officials implement his threat of mass firings, economic harm might become more long-lasting.