Energy Before People - How Trump Uses the Shutdown as a Lever for Oil, Gas and Coal

While in Washington since October 1, 2025 the clocks have stood still, the Trump administration once again proves that standstill does not apply to everyone. More than 750,000 federal employees do not know if and when they will be able to return to work with pay, yet inside the Department of the Interior the wheels for the fossil industry continue to turn without interruption. Those employees who issue approvals for oil, gas and coal projects are exempt from furlough - a political decision that does not even attempt to conceal what this shutdown is really about: accelerating the fossil boom at taxpayer expense. According to the contingency plans, key staff at the Bureau of Land Management as well as the Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management will remain at work. They are to ensure that drilling and production permits do not pile up, while almost a quarter of the staff in the land bureau and most in the ocean bureau are forced into idleness. This prioritization is justified by a "National Energy Emergency" that critics simply call a fabrication to advance Trump's energy agenda. This continues to grant private companies access to public lands and deposits in the Gulf of Mexico - a gift to industry at a time when the state is otherwise freezing its services.

That Trump does not shy away from shutdowns has been demonstrated many times in the past. But history also shows how rarely shutting down the government brings about major political victories. In 2018 Democrats blocked the budget for three days to secure protections for the so-called "Dreamers." In the end they relented when Mitch McConnell merely promised a vote. A few months later it was Trump himself who, for his border wall, provoked the longest shutdown in US history, 35 days, until the pressure from empty airports and angry travelers forced him back. Already in 2013 Republicans under Ted Cruz had paralyzed the government to fight against Obama's health reform - without winning any significant concessions in the end. Senator John Thune sums up this record soberly: "Shutdowns benefit nobody, least of all the American people."

Trump's reference to a supposed "national energy emergency" is a transparent political fraud. While millions of Americans face rising health costs, endangered aid programs and overloaded airports, the administration is deliberately keeping only those offices running that rubber-stamp new oil, gas and coal projects. The alleged emergency exists only on paper - it serves solely to push through the fossil expansion while the rest of the country is forced into paralysis.

The memorandum from the White House makes this openly clear: funding ends at midnight, Democrats blocked a continuing resolution citing Trump's spending conditions, and now agencies are to "orderly" close. The language is clearly propagandistic - the demands of the Democrats are branded "insane," Trump himself is staged as a supporter of a "clean" bill. In reality he is using the shutdown to shift blame and at the same time create exceptions for his core interests. Programs that protect the most vulnerable or guarantee safety are left behind, while fossil permits continue with priority. This writing shows above all one thing: the shifting of state resources away from the common good and toward the enforcement of a one-sided agenda.

That this political extortion is chosen again is also due to the weakness of Congress. Among the population, the legislature enjoys hardly any trust. Only five to six percent on average said in polls that they had "a great deal of confidence" in the work of Congress. About half expressed "only some confidence," 44 percent practically none. Notably, this skepticism is deeply rooted across party lines: ten percent of Republicans, but only two percent of Democrats, said they really trusted Congress.

The current struggle is igniting at a highly sensitive point: health insurance premiums. Thanks to massive subsidies, more than 24 million Americans this year were able to take out affordable policies under the Affordable Care Act. For some low-income earners the premium is waived completely, wealthier people pay a maximum of 8.5 percent of their income, and even the middle class was more strongly included. But the tax credits expire at the end of 2025. Analyses by KFF show that premiums could rise by an average of 114 percent next year - that corresponds to about 1,016 dollars additionally per year. Millions of families have already received advance notices. The Democrats in the House of Representatives therefore vehemently demand an immediate extension of the subsidies. At a meeting in the White House Chuck Schumer had to realize that Trump "was not even aware" how many people would be affected.

While this ignorance causes head-shaking, other professions are already directly feeling the effects of the shutdown. In aviation the system is already at its limit. With only 10,800 air traffic controllers instead of the necessary 14,600 and equipment that regularly fails, the situation was strained even before the blockade. Now the controllers must continue without pay. "Any additional stress worsens safety," warns Nick Daniels, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. Already during the 35-day shutdown under Trump in 2019, controllers had taken on side jobs to support their families, while airports such as Miami temporarily had to close terminals because security staff were calling in sick en masse. If the controls and operations can no longer be guaranteed, the FAA will simply have to throttle flights - with more delays, cancellations and a safety net that is becoming increasingly full of holes.

Not only the skies, everyday life on the ground is also affected. The WIC nutrition program, which provides monthly assistance to pregnant women, babies and young children, still has funds for one to two weeks. Around seven million people receive aid, after that gaps loom if no budget is passed. In Mississippi new applications have already been stopped. Travel itself will initially continue, but the strains increase from day to day. More than 61,000 TSA employees and 13,200 air traffic controllers are working without pay, passengers must expect growing frustration, long lines and more disruptions. Geoff Freeman, head of the US travel industry, warns: "The longer the shutdown lasts, the more travelers will feel it - from security checks to delays to national parks filling with trash."

These national parks are another symbol of the standstill. While roads, viewpoints and trails are to remain open in principle, closures threaten if garbage piles up or damage is not repaired. The National Park Service manages more than 400 sites, from Yellowstone to the Statue of Liberty. The Smithsonian museums also remain open initially, but at the latest from October 6 they too may have to close their doors.

Amtrak, the state railroad, on the other hand, announced it will maintain operations. More than 300 trains run daily in 46 states and into Canada. And international travelers can also continue to enter the US, since border posts are staffed with 63,000 employees. Passports and visas are also largely processed normally, as the responsible agency is mostly funded by fees - only the E-Verify program, with which employers check the status of new employees, is out of service during the shutdown.

The political drama of this standstill can be read on two levels: on the one hand in the millions of Americans who immediately face higher health costs, supply bottlenecks or travel problems; on the other hand in the prioritization of the government, which at its core shows whom it serves. While families must expect drastic premium increases and women with children fear for their food vouchers, Trump keeps the machinery for oil, gas and coal running - legitimized by an "energy emergency" that exists only on paper. It is a shutdown that bears the political handwriting of a government that sees the state as a stage for power games and in the process pushes the common good into the background.