NewsPronto

 
The Times


.

USA Conversation

The Conversation USA

The Conversation USA

Is the US heading for a government shutdown? 5 essential reads to occupy the mind while we wait to find out

  • Written by Matt Williams, Senior International Editor
imageHello, shutdown, my old friend ...Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

Brinkmanship, a political scramble to keep the lights on in Washington and finger-pointing over who is to the blame – we’ve been here before, right?

The threat of government shutdowns seems to be a regular feature of modern American politics.

And while this is...

Read more: Is the US heading for a government shutdown? 5 essential reads to occupy the mind while we wait to...

More Articles ...

  1. How do researchers determine how toxic a chemical is? A toxicologist explains alternatives to animal testing
  2. The fediverse promises social media without Big Tech – if it can avoid familiar pitfalls
  3. For superfans, comic-con culture is more than fun – it’s sacred, a sociologist explains
  4. Alien and Sedition Acts were reviled in their time, and John Adams was not sorry to see them go
  5. Pennsylvania’s mushroom industry faces urgent labor shortage − and latest immigration policies will likely make it worse
  6. US workers with remote-friendly jobs are still working from home nearly half the time, 5 years after the pandemic began
  7. How Jesse Jackson embodied Southern politics − and changed American elections
  8. The parallels between Kash Patel and William J. Burns, a scandal-mongering 1920s FBI director — an FBI historian explains
  9. Middle age is a time when women are vulnerable to eating disorders
  10. Arrest of ex-president Duterte will shake up dynastic politics in the Philippines – and hand initiative to rival Marcos family
  11. US-Ukraine deal highlights Ukraine’s wealth of critical minerals, but extracting them isn’t so simple
  12. The world regulated sulfur in ship fuels − and the lightning stopped
  13. 5 years of COVID-19 underscore value of coordinated efforts to manage disease – while CDC, NIH and WHO face threats to their ability to respond to a crisis
  14. What is a SLAPP suit? Legal experts explain how these lawsuits suppress free speech
  15. How Trump’s foreign aid and diplomatic cuts will make it harder for the US to wield soft power to maintain its friendships and win new ones
  16. Mission possible − parastronaut programs can make space travel more inclusive and attainable for all
  17. From TB to HIV/AIDS to cancer, disease tracking has always had a political dimension, but it’s the foundation of public health
  18. End-of-life planning can be hampered by misconceptions − but the process is easier than you might think
  19. Trump’s DOGE campaign accelerates 50-year trend of government privatization
  20. What happens when leaders have loyalists in charge of men with guns: Lessons for the US from Nicaragua, Syria and other authoritarian countries
  21. The sun is setting on government transparency in Florida – and secrecy creep is affecting the rest of the US, too
  22. How the color of St. Patrick’s Day went from blue to green
  23. George Washington, a real estate investor and successful entrepreneur, knew the difference between running a business and running the government
  24. Taking a leap of faith into imaginary numbers opens new doors in the real world through complex analysis
  25. DEI initiatives removed from federal agencies that fund science, but scientific research continues
  26. The dark parallels between 1920s America and today’s political climate
  27. The fear of deportation hangs over unauthorized workers trying to fight exploitation, but all workers in the US have rights
  28. The FACE Act was enacted to protect reproductive health clinics − here’s why its history matters today
  29. Ann Arbor’s sustainable energy utility aims to build the electric power grid of the future − alongside the old one
  30. 5 ways schools have shifted in 5 years since COVID-19
  31. Is ranch dressing a liquid or a solid? A physicist explains
  32. America is becoming a nation of homebodies
  33. 5 reasons veterans are especially hard-hit by federal cuts
  34. Daylight saving time and early school start times cost billions in lost productivity and health care expenses
  35. How Trump’s $2B court battle over foreign aid could reshape executive authority
  36. Pause in aid has introduced uncertainty into Ukraine’s military planning − forever changing its war calculus
  37. NIH funding cuts will hit red states, rural areas and underserved communities the hardest
  38. ‘Pac-Man with a ponytail’ proteins regulate everything from night vision to heartbeats – studying what GRKs look like could improve an array of drugs
  39. What Amazon MGM’s creative control over the James Bond film franchise means for the future of 007
  40. Exhausted by the news? Here are 6 strategies to stay informed without getting overwhelmed − or misled by misinformation
  41. The US has pardoned insurrectionists twice before – and both times, years of violent racism followed
  42. Beyond AI regulation: How government and industry can team up to make the technology safer without hindering innovation
  43. Knocking down abandoned buildings has a lot of benefits for Detroit − but it’s costly for cities
  44. Why getting the numbers right isn’t enough for pollsters to be credible in today’s polarized climate
  45. Butterflies declined by 22% in just 2 decades across the US – there are ways you can help save them
  46. How 18F transformed government technology − and why its elimination matters
  47. Anger is a flow of emotion like water through a hose − at work, it helps to know when to turn it up or down and how to direct it
  48. DOGE threat: How government data would give an AI company extraordinary power
  49. As tuberculosis cases rise in the US and worldwide, health officials puzzle over the resurgence of a disease once in decline
  50. What’s that microplastic? Advances in machine learning are making identifying plastics in the environment more reliable