The Pour Over Today - BONUS: TPO Explains Why The Government Isn't Reopening | 11.01.25

Episode Date: November 1, 2025

Readers of The Pour Over pick a topic to have explained, and Jason and Kathleen have to get Joe to understand it in less than 20 minutes… This week, they’re explaining why the government isn't reopening. TPO Explains Government Shutdowns Episode Join over 1.5 million readers with our free newsletter ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Looking to support us? You can choose to pay ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Check out our sponsors! We actually use and enjoy every single one. CruSurfsharkHoly PostCCCUUpsideMoshLMNTTheology in the RawSafe House ProjectNot Just Sunday PodcastQuinceLife Application Study BibleShe Reads Truth

Today's episode is brought to you by our lead sponsor, Safe House Project. Do you guys have strong preferences on the candy that you give out? Because I will tell you, we collect all the candy that we've accumulated over the summertime from all the parades that we attend. Because our kids just love grabbing all the parade candy, right? They put it in the bag. We don't give them. Joe's giving out peppermints.

Peppermints and bubble gum. Like, little American flags from 4th of July. So we save all that candy because we don't eat a lot of candy in the household. So then come Halloween, we have no problem giving away all that parade candy that accumulated. Joe, you'll appreciate this. We were talking about it today because I'm back at my parents' house. And we, I grew up in a very wealthy neighborhood. My dad's a pastor.

So, you know. we were roughing it but um no the thing the thing specifically in lake forest is that like there's this competition or social pressure to provide king size candy bars and i remember growing up it's like man why would anyone not do king size candy bars those are all the cool houses that's the and now i'm sitting there thinking like these people are spending hundreds of dollars on candy and because it's become a thing now other towns and stuff will like bus kids and families in so then it's like there's just even more candy that you need to buy and it's become this whole thing that's just ridiculous i cannot believe you just said your childhood was like why would him i not do king's say you know what i was hoping that i didn't get ramen noodles at every house ramen man yeah i mean it was cold like a couple houses but not all of them like give me some candy too Oh, yeah, no.

It was all candy, except the people that, like, you know, hand out toothpaste. Mm, potatoes. Where did you grow up? Ramen and potatoes? Like, what's with the starch? Like, it's, I don't think it was a my city thing that we handed out candy. Okay, no, but you haven't seen the thing where, like, you put, like, people can either take candy or potatoes. And kids are like, ha, ha, it's a potato.

And so they all take the potatoes. No. Maybe this was a fever dream. That is a fun social experiment. That's a thing. That's entertaining. Yeah. Yeah.

Hello and welcome to another episode of TPO Explains. I'm Joe, podcast producer here at the Porover, and I'm here with Jason, our founder and editor-in-chief, and Kathleen, our managing editor. So here's the idea behind the show. Our readers share which topics they want us to explore, and then we bring that to the podcast. Today's winner, why is the government not reopening? Yes.

We've actually gotten this question a lot. Yeah, and I am hoping it reopens. I'm also a little panicked that it will be reopened by the time that we post this, and this episode will be less valuable. you know how like when you wash your car it rains the next day maybe maybe it's the same thing like if we release this episode the government will reopen yeah we did it we were the ones yeah they got it to reopen right joe my first question to you is do you know how long the government has been shut down i remember from our previous episode which i can link in the show notes for those that missed the whole episode explain planning government shutdowns, I believe they have to reconcile the budget every year. Jason, you said it on that episode. Is it September 30th? Yeah.

So the government, by September 30th, because the budget restarts on October 1st. So technically, 1201, October 1st, it's been shut down. So right now, recording this on Wednesday, it's like 28 days. This should release on Saturday. So it'll be like 31 days. Joe, what does it take? How does a government shutdown end? You need to all agree on the budget for all the different departments you mentioned.

And again, I'm alluding to the first episode where we talked about this. You mentioned there's like 12 different departments, I think. And so they got to pass the budget for all those 12. They got to say, all right, fine, we will concede on this point in that, and let's come to an agreement. Well, 12 bills, which encompass like a lot of departments. So one bill could cover, I don't know, a ton of like smaller areas you didn't, you know, couldn't have even recalled. But 12 broad appropriation bills, yeah. And so they, these are laws.

So we need a law or 12 new laws. 12 would be if we do it kind of the correct way, or we could do one law, which is the continuing resolution, which is basically to say, hey, until we come up with the 12 new appropriation bills and pass them into law, we're just going to follow last year's budget. And so to pass these things, it needs to pass the House by a simple majority, and then the Senate needs 60 votes, and then it needs to be passed by the president. So, Joe, next quiz. What's the current political makeup?

Do you know, like, which party controls the House, the Senate? I think you know who controls the White House. And, yeah, and by how much? Okay. That is a great question. So in the House, let's go Republicans. is that correct okay and i need to guess by how much they have uh 20 more members i don't know okay and and how about with the senate okay senate i'm going to say the democrats are in control

have the majority all right i made this beautiful graphic to help you out are you seeing it yeah i see what's the left this is incredible this is so clear so helpful. Jason, this is the same graphic that's on any presidential election night. I know, I know, but it doesn't exist for this one. I spent as much time looking for this graphic, which should exist, only to determine that it doesn't exist for this right now, and then just made it myself. And I'm very proud of it, so the appropriate responses are ooze and awe.

What's the line? Great question. Thank you, Kathleen. The line is how many votes are needed to pass these appropriations bills or the continuing resolution. So you can see the House, the Republicans have 219 members of the House, and Democrats have 213, and then there are three that are vacant. So we need 216 votes to pass any of these things through the House.

you can see because of the great graphic that the Republicans can do that by themselves. When we move to the Senate, the Republicans control the Senate. They have 53 and the Democrats have 47. That also includes people like Bernie Sanders and he's an independent but caucuses with Democrats. I think there are like two or three people in that category. So the Republicans also control the Senate, but they need six. 60 total votes and they only have 53. So they need seven of the Democrats to come over and help. And right now, as of recording, there have been, I think, 13 votes to try to reopen the government. And they have, so a continuing resolution has passed the House. It is not passing the Senate.

there are two Democratic senators that are voting with Republicans. So the vote, almost all these votes, maybe all of them have been 55 to 45, not hitting the 60 vote threshold. They really need five more than they're currently, than they've currently been getting. Yes. Human trafficking isn't just an over-their problem. It's happening right here in the U.S. An estimated 300,000 people are being trafficked in America right now, and most were first sold as children.

Even when they get a chance to run, sometimes there's no safe way out, and they get pulled right back in. Safehouse Project is helping children get to safety and stay there by equipping communities to spot trafficking and funding urgent escapes. They cover what's needed in those crucial moments, a way to escape, shelter, and resources.

for lasting freedom. Trafficking in the U.S. is at crisis levels and requests for help to escape are higher than ever. Just $40 provides a safe ride that takes a child from captivity to freedom. Safehouse Project can't miss the moment when a child is ready to escape, and your gift makes sure they don't.

Give a child the way out. Go to safehouseproject.org or check the link in the show notes to give now. All right. Next question, Joe. What do those five or 45 Democratic senators want? Like, what are both sides? Why can we not reopen the government? Do you know what the conflicts about? Well, what first came to mind is with the one big, beautiful bill, I know a contentious issue with it is Medicaid, Medicaid coverage. So I wonder. for those Democratic senators, do they want some compromise on that front, that there will be less loss in coverage for those that are prior to the one big beautiful bill covered by Medicaid? Yes. So it does have to do, I don't think specifically Medicaid or Medicare, but it is

health care. So basically the Democrats are saying, hey, if you know, need our votes, then you need to negotiate with us. And the only thing we really want is to extend health care subsidies. So there are health care subsidies used by 24 million Americans, and they're set to expire by the end of the year. And these subsidies make the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare much more affordable based on like different income thresholds. And they're going to go away. So that's what Democrats are saying. Republicans are saying, hey, we're happy to negotiate on health care subsidies. But right now, you need to just vote on this continuing resolution and reopen the government.

And their pushback is saying, hey, when Biden was president, you voted for these continuing resolutions 13 times. Just this is what they're for. We aren't done negotiating. Pass this, reopen the government. And so that's that's the tension Democrats are saying, no, you're not actually going to negotiate with us after. This is our chance to say, we need to protect these 24 million Americans. And Republicans are saying you don't get to make that call open the government. All right. I'm glad you followed that, Joe.

Okay, so the question really then is just like how long is this going to last? So, Joe, what do you think? I guess until they can come to an agreement, whether it's a continuing resolution or I guess the bigger hurdle would be those 12 different bills. But they just need a, they need five more in the Senate. Yeah. Yeah, an unsatisfying answer, but I think spot on. Yeah. Um, I think in theory, it could go on forever, right?

But it never, it's never exceeded, what, 35 days? Is that the longest? Yeah. And that was in, I think it started in 2018 and like went into 2019. Yeah, I, I agree. I think, I think in theory forever, but in practice, we're, we're thinking about, you know, days, maybe weeks, probably not months. but we'll just find out and see when it's done. Yeah.

Right, guys. Well, thank you for the update in real time. We'll see when this posts, if the government reopens due to us posting this episode, right? But in the meantime, I am interested to hear from you guys what Christian perspectives you have. Yeah, the one that came to mind for me was just thinking, like, this has turned, and especially spending so much time. kind of figuring out what both sides were saying. And, man, watching the videos, there's, like, they aren't holding any punches. And, like, you go to the White House website, and it's like, this is how long the Democrats

have shut down the government. Here's the people that you should call and complain to. And the Democrats are doing the exact same thing. It's like the Republicans don't care about you and want to steal your health care. Here's who to call. And so I just walked away feeling like, man, I stepped into an ocean of anger and just meanness. And so this perspective came to mind that I don't know who wrote it at the pourover, but it is easy to become angry and indignant over world events, but much more difficult to live with the tension of desiring change while simultaneously loving everybody involved. And so that is what I'm going to strive to do for as long as this shutdown lasts is desire it to change, but also love everyone involved.

My takeaway was similar. I just think about people have opinions on this and have stances on the government. And we often say both your stance and how you take your stance are important. So, you know, if this is something that is impactful to you or that you've, care about, you know, that's okay, but how you take your stance and how you communicate that also is a reflection on, um, on Jesus. So just choosing to have that posture of humility and of loving others, um, what's my perspective too? Man, it's so great, guys. Well, thanks everyone for joining us for another episode of TPO

Explains. As a reminder, you can watch this episode on YouTube and Spotify. We'll post Jason's amazing graphic that he made for the purposes. of this episode. Thank you. Thank you. Make sure to like, comment, and subscribe. We'd love to hear your thoughts and feedback. Thanks for tuning in.

Until next time. Bye. The other day in the kitchen, I poured citrus element powder in my water bottle. My wife looked at me and asked when the last time was that I drank water without element. I looked at her and couldn't even remember. No sugar, no crashes, just the science-backed ratio of electrolytes we need to stay sharp. Honestly, it's the real MVP of the pour-over. Stay fresh and hydrated with us.

The pour-over listeners get a free eight-pack of elements' most popular drink flavors with any drink-mix purchase. Just use the element link in the show notes.