Background
Explainers
The rules behind the headlines, in plain English. Each guide answers the questions a story assumes you already know the answer to.
Congress
Budget
What a government shutdown is
Why funding lapses happen, which services stop, and how the standoff usually ends.
4 min read
Budget reconciliation, explained
The procedure that lets a Senate majority pass major fiscal legislation without 60 votes, and the limits on it.
5 min read
The debt ceiling
A statutory cap on borrowing for spending Congress has already approved, and what happens as it is reached.
4 min read