Who's in charge during a shutdown?

It's expensive to fund multiple offices and homes, and rookie congressmen rely on their salaries (and more) to continue to do their job of representing their districts. When the dust settles after a shutdown, those bills come due, and even the most idealistic representative is in a compromising position.

It is not an accident that our system leaves people vulnerable to debt traps, and even our representatives are not immune from these traps. Indeed, this particular trap was made just for them, as bad debt can destroy a career in politics.