The chokehold has been lifted. America breathes again. After harrowing days of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, Congress somehow reached a makeshift deal to get off the people’s back. Federal workers will return to their offices, airports will return to normal and there will be food on the table for millions of people living at the bottom of the pyramid, paycheck-to-paycheck. “The glass is half-full” optimists would say the deal is lesser of the two evils.
While Washington was paralyzed, up here in Northern New England, something quieter was happening. In Concord and Montpelier, in New Hampshire’s budget meetings and Vermont’s energy committees, leaders from both parties were doing the hard, unglamorous work of governing, as I’m sure is happening all over the country, red or blue. And that says a lot for America’s democracy.
The temporary spending bill that broke the deadlock to reopen the federal government will fund agencies through Jan. 30, 2026, while guaranteeing back pay for roughly 730,000 furloughed federal workers, and an additional 670,000 employees who worked without receiving a paycheck. The prolonged shutdown would cost the U.S. economy an estimated $7 to 14 billion, according to Congressional Budget Office.
Eight Senate Democrats joined nearly all Republicans to move the measure forward. New Hampshire’s Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan were among them. Shaheen told reporters: “It was our best chance to reopen the government and stop punishing ordinary Americans.” Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota said, “The people’s government cannot be held hostage to further anyone’s political agenda.” Politicians compromised under pressure from the public and the sheer exhaustion of stalemate, and perhaps some had apprehensions about their political future. The mid-term election is not far away.
Polarization is a treatable—if not curable—political condition. After World War II, America embraced what scholars call the liberal consensus based on expanding opportunity, investing in infrastructure, and maintaining a social safety net. Democrats and Republicans worked in blurred ideological lines and overlapping coalitions in Congress.
That consensus began to wear thin in the 1970s, and by the 1990s, parties had developed sharp ideological boundaries. A Pew Research Center study found that the share of Americans with consistently liberal or conservative views doubled between 1994 and 2014. Today, as Dartmouth government professor Sean Westwood, a leading researcher on political polarization, points out, partisans often see each other not merely as opponents, but as threats to the nation’s well-being.
Despite polarization, there have been times — and places — when cooperation has been the norm, not the exception. In New Hampshire and Vermont, we might be seeing glimmers of that spirit again. In June, New Hampshire’s lawmakers accomplished something that Washington could learn from. They passed a $15.9 billion, two-year state budget after weeks of tough negotiations. Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte termed it “a fiscally responsible, balanced budget” that protects “our most vulnerable and creates an even brighter future for our children.” But the process was fierce. Originally, the House budget slashed jobs and cut state aid to schools. The Senate cringed. But instead of letting it collapse, legislators kept negotiating, restored funding for first responders, adjusted school budgets and modified proposed retirement changes.
In Vermont, lawmakers found their own areas of cooperation, especially on energy and technology. In May, the state passed S.50, a bill expanding access to community and small-scale solar projects that had bipartisan sponsorship, and the Republican governor Phil Scott signed it without much fuss. Sen. Anne Watson, chair of the Energy Committee, said, “Vermonters want practical, affordable climate solutions. This campaign is about cutting costs and empowering residents.”
Now both Vermont and New Hampshire are discussing legislation for plug-in or balcony solar kits, small systems renters can plug into ordinary outlets to generate their own electricity. It’s simple, low-cost, and, perhaps surprisingly, bipartisan. Vermont also enacted an Age-Appropriate Design Code to protect kids online, a bill championed by lawmakers from both parties.
Do you see a pattern here? When the cost of polarization becomes palpable, cooperation re-emerges, whether it’s in Washington, Concord or Montpelier. During the shutdown, unpaid workers showed up at airports, food banks ran short and child-nutrition programs faced delays. Suddenly, polarization became personal and visible, leading to compromise. In New Hampshire, teachers and police unions warned that budget cuts would close classrooms and slow emergency response times. The threat led to dealmaking. In Vermont, energy bills and climate anxiety are everyday conversations. Cooperation wasn’t driven by ideology; it was a pragmatic necessity.
We like to think of polarization as Damocles’ Sword. But history speaks otherwise. From the Marshall Plan to the Civil Rights Act to Medicare, America can build consensus across class, race and party lines. The problem is not that cooperation is impossible. Rather, we’ve forgotten how to expect cooperation.
Narain Batra is the author of The First Freedoms and America’s Culture of Innovation. He hosts the podcast America Unbound. He lives in Hartford.