WASHINGTON — Nobody home. Gone fishing. The lights are out in the federal government.

The House of Representatives chamber is deserted and silent as a tomb. It's almost as if its Republican leaders don't care if the country is in crisis.

While the president carries out a bloody plot to snuff out the federal government like a brief candle, the Republican speaker, Mike Johnson, put the House on recess.

This way, Johnson and the Republican half of the divided House can dodge responsibility for what's coming: a brewing calamity brought and wrought by President Donald J. Trump.

Democrats know time is on their side, for once, in the second Trump presidency. Minority leaders Chuck Schumer in the Senate and Hakeem Jeffries in the House hold cards — aces, actually — on looming health care costs.

Much depends on the tall man from the Midwest, Republican Senate Leader John Thune. The new and flinty leader keeps testing Democratic resolve with floor votes, one day at a time.

The Trump government shutdown is barely a week old. As planes delay, as paychecks don't land, as national parks and museums close, the American people may notice our ship of state is not as sturdy as they thought.

(You don't know what you got till it's gone, as the song says.)

In uncertain times, public sympathy will be with the military and other departments who must work without pay until the shutdown ends. That's a lot to ask of public servants.

Congress will be paid throughout the shutdown. Of course.

But here's the rub.

Schumer and Jeffries, both of Brooklyn, know this is a fight they have to win to take back the House in 2026. I sense they're emboldened since March, when Schumer backed down in a similar stalemate.

For his part, Jeffries is finding his voice in the town square after succeeding the invincible Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi. He is scoring points on Johnson's leaving town, "on vacation." Interestingly, Johnson and the deputy leader, Steve Scalise, are both from Louisiana.

"This is on behalf of all Americans, like veterans and farmers," Jeffries declared, whether they live in a blue or red state. "Everyday Americans, who have been suffering under extremism."

Or perhaps this is just one iteration of the civil war conflict for history majors like me.

Very soon this fall, many medical insurance premiums are about to skyrocket. Some will lose coverage. For millions, that pocketbook issue is a direct result of Trump's so-named Big Beautiful Bill passed in the summer with great swells of Republican support.

It was hard to watch members of Congress sell out their own constituents just to hold on to their seats. They fear the wrath of Trump.

They like their jobs too much, as my doctor father said to me. The entire medical establishment is quaking under Trump and Health Secretary Bobby Kennedy Jr., who is leading a purge against vaccine experts. But's that's another story.

Nearly all House and Senate Democrats are holding firm to bring Trump to the table to save certain subsidies part of the Affordable Care Act, former President Barack Obama's signature law, which Trump has long tried to demolish.

Republican lawmakers are uneasy, knowing their voters are upset at paying more for health care — while Trump tax rates for the rich drain the Treasury. It's really that simple.

Now, even Trump seems to know that raising health care costs is a losing stand. He can't jam down it down throats in his usual MAGA way.

If he caves and negotiates in this showdown, that will be his first sign of weakness in his first year.

Over in the Senate chamber, the 100 are in. They lack the urgency you might expect when the government is shut down. Despite some cross-party conversations, they deadlock every day.

Thune's position: The parties can negotiate on health care if they reopen the government first in a "clean" nonpolitical bill. Schumer and his caucus of 47 say no deal.

Except Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat, voted with Thune and appears to seek common ground on a compromise.

"She's the most important person in the room," a journalist said.

Then Shaheen ducked into the cloakroom.

The author may be reached at JamieStiehm.com. To find out more about Jamie Stiehm and other Creators Syndicate columnists and cartoonists, please visit creators.com.

Photo credit: Chris Kursikowski at Unsplash