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Shutdowns have become a recurring element of US politics – but this one feels especially difficult to resolve due to shifting political forces and deep-seated animosity among both major parties.

Some government services are temporarily suspended, and about 750,000 people are expected to be put on furlough without pay as both political parties can't agree on a spending bill.

Legislative attempts to resolve the deadlock continue to fall short, and it is hard to see a clear resolution path this time as each side – as well as the nation's leader – can see some merit in maintaining their positions.

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

First, For Democrats, it's about Trump – beyond healthcare issues

The Democratic base have insisted for months for their representatives adopt stronger opposition against the current presidency. Currently Democratic leaders have an opportunity to demonstrate their responsiveness.

In March, Senate leader faced strong criticism for helping pass GOP budget legislation and averting a government closure early this year. This time he's holding firm.

This presents an opportunity for Democrats to demonstrate they can take back certain authority from an administration pursuing its agenda assertively on its agenda.

Opposing the Republican spending plan comes with political risk as citizens generally may become impatient as the dispute drags on and impacts accumulate.

The Democrats are leveraging the budget standoff to highlight concerns about expiring health insurance subsidies together with Republican-approved government healthcare cuts for the poor, which are both unpopular.

They are also trying to curtail the President's use of presidential authority to cancel or delay funding approved by Congress, which he has done with foreign aid and other programmes.

2. For Republicans, they see potential

The President and one of his key officials have made little secret of the fact that they smell a chance to make more of the cutbacks in government employment implemented during the current presidential term to date.

The President himself said last week that the shutdown had afforded him an "unprecedented opportunity", adding he intended to reduce funding for "Democrat agencies".

The White House said it would be left with the "unenviable task" involving significant workforce reductions to keep essential government services operating if the shutdown continued. An administration spokesperson said this was just "fiscal sanity".

The extent of possible job cuts is still uncertain, though administration officials have been consulting with the Office of Management and Budget, or OMB, under the leadership of the key official.

The budget director has already announced the halting of government financial support for Democratic-run parts the opposition party, including New York City and Chicago.

3. There's little trust on either side

While previous shutdowns typically involved extended negotiations among political opponents aimed at restoring federal operations, there appears to be minimal cooperative willingness for compromise presently.

Conversely, animosity prevails. Political tensions continued over the weekend, as both sides exchanging accusations for causing the impasse.

The legislative leader from the majority party, accused Democrats of not being serious about negotiating, and holding out during discussions "for electoral protection".

Meanwhile, the Senate leader levelled the same accusation against their counterparts, saying that a majority party commitment regarding health funding talks after operations resume can not be taken seriously.

The President himself has escalated tensions through sharing a controversial AI-generated image featuring the opposition leader along with another senior in the House, in which the legislator appears wearing traditional headwear and a moustache.

The affected legislator with party colleagues denounced this as discriminatory, a characterization rejected by the Vice-President.

Fourth, The American Economy faces vulnerability

Experts project about 40% of government employees – over 800,000 workers – to face furlough as a result of the government closure.

This will reduce consumer expenditure – and also have wider ramifications, including halted environmental approvals, delayed intellectual property processing, interrupted vendor payments and other kinds of government activity connected to commercial interests comes to a halt.

A shutdown also injects new uncertainty into an economy currently experiencing disruption from multiple factors including tariffs, earlier cuts to government spending, enforcement actions and technological advancements.

Economic forecasters project that it could shave as much as 0.2 percentage points off US economic growth weekly during the closure.

But the economy typically recoups the majority of interrupted operations after a shutdown ends, as it would after disruption caused by a natural disaster.

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

On the other hand, analysts say should administration officials implement his threat of mass firings, the damage could be more long-lasting.