Read Time: 4 min 35 sec
─────── September 20, 2025 ───────
Happy Saturday!
We’re launching a brand-new “weekend edition” of The Pour Over! It’s all reader-driven content, starting with explaining the most-asked-about topic in our inbox.
If you would NOT like to receive the Saturday Slowdown moving forward, no biggie! Just click here…
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“There is no saint without a past, no sinner without a future.”
St. Augustine
BREWING QUESTIONS
WHAT YOU’RE ASKING
What are Government Shutdowns?
In my house, movie night can’t happen until my kids agree on which movie to watch. And that’s government shutdowns in a nutshell. Any questions?
Maybe just a little more explanation…
Federal agencies cannot spend money without Congress’s approval (thanks to the Antideficiency Act).
To give that approval, the House Appropriations Committee slices the government into 12 sections—like Agriculture, Defense, Homeland Security, and Education—and tasks subcommittees with drafting spending (or “appropriations”) bills. Then, both chambers of Congress vote, and the president slaps on his John Hancock.
But if those bills aren’t passed by October 1 (the start of Uncle Sam’s fiscal year), the government can’t spend money. Cue shutdown.
What happens during a shutdown?
Not much. And that’s the problem.
Essential personnel—like active duty military, federal law enforcement, medical staff in federal hospitals, and air traffic controllers—continue to work without pay, but many federal employees are furloughed (no work, no pay). National Parks close, passport and visa applications stop being processed, SBA loan applications are paused, and all other non-essential work grinds to a halt.
Mail delivery is not affected because the USPS is self-funded, and some offices, like the Patent and Trademark Office, have operating reserves that they can draw upon.
How does a shutdown end?
When Congress successfully passes the 12 appropriations bills or a Continuing Resolution (CR) to provide temporary funding while negotiations continue.
The longest shutdown lasted 35 days in late 2018, sparked by disagreements over border wall funding. About 380,000 employees were put on unpaid leave, and 420,000 worked without pay. Everyone received back pay once the shutdown ended (except for the president, members of Congress, and Supreme Court Justices, who continued to collect paychecks throughout because their pay is guaranteed through other laws).
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ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE
If our hope is based on political negotiations or economic security, then we live in fear because we could lose everything. But if our hope is rooted in the eternal security provided by Christ, then we can weather any storm.
“My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’s blood and righteousness… On Christ the solid Rock I stand; all other ground is sinking sand.” – Edward Mote, 1863 (Scriptural basis: Ps 18:2; Matt 7:24; Heb 13:8)
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HOUSE BLEND
WHAT YOU’LL ENJOY…
How quickly can you complete this week’s crossword?
An extra Whipped Cream on Top… because it’s the weekend 🙌
Owned by TPO Reader Andrew J., Wordmingle is a better-than-Wordle (yep) word challenge that everyone will love!*
*This is a free promo for a TPO-reader-owned small biz. If you’re able and interested, please support them! Have a small biz you want us to know about? Fill out this form!
WHAT YOU’VE BEAN CLICKING…
Top News Article: America’s first couple’s visit to Windsor Castle
Top Christian Perspective: A verse to consider whether your workday involves a red-carpet trip, an overflowing inbox, or twelve dirty diapers…
Top Whipped Cream: The baby animals of Yellowstone…
TAKE IT TO GO
WHAT WE’RE DOING
Fighting Goliath(s)
The world feels heavy right now, and people are flocking to Jesus for understanding and hope.
We’re seeing it firsthand. The Pour Over has never grown as quickly as it has in the last 10 days; people are hungry for Jesus in everything, even their news.
We’re scrambling to meet them, but we still have so far to go. We’re not fighting against one Goliath, but multiple—massive news organizations that profit from making viewers angry, fearful, and divided.
People see the problem more clearly than ever and are looking for an alternative. Help us reach them by choosing to pay $49/year.
Thanks for helping us fight to keep Christians focused on Christ, even when reading the news.
WHAT WE’RE PRAYING
“Grant that we will love you with all our hearts, souls, and minds, and love our neighbors as we love ourselves, even our enemy neighbors. And we ask you, God, in these days of emotional tension, when the problems of the world are gigantic in extent and chaotic in detail, to be with us… in our moments of joy and in our moments of sorrow, until the day when there shall be no sunset and no dawn. Amen.”
Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., 1929-1968
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