By Larry Kudlow,NY Sun

Copyright realclearpolitics

What is it about this particular government shutdown that has generated so much press attention  both from the left and the right?

Normally, these shutdowns are kind of boring, short lived, and surely not as important or interesting as the baseball playoffs.

This time its different.

What makes this shutdown so different  and so front and center  is the likelihood that President Trump and his budget director Russell Vought will use the shutdown to significantly downsize and reshape the entire federal government.

It could be the biggest remodeling of the federal budget in a hundred years.

And Senator Chuck Schumer is playing right into their hands.

During the Biden years, Democrats voted 13 times for continuing resolutions.

The last major battle was during Mr. Trumps first term, with a 35-day shutdown, that was mainly fought over funding the border wall.

This time, theres a lot more at stake.

As Mr. Vought has said very clearly  the president has the authority to make permanent changes to the federal bureaucracy.

And as Peter Doocy just reported, Mr. Trump this morning said the same on Truth Social:

I have a meeting today with Russ Vought, he of PROJECT 2025 Fame, to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent. I cant believe the Radical Left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity.

Now, Democrats are lining up to fall on their swords over Medicaid assistance to undocumented illegals and to preserve and expand the Covid emergency Obamacare subsidies.

All this would break up the One Big Beautiful Bill, by virtually erasing the $1.5 trillion budget savings from waste, fraud, abuse, and eligibility requirements.

And surely the Democrats would be happy to raise your taxes by $5 trillion, given the chance, thereby also negating the OBBB tax cuts.

All this is true.

What I think is really at stake, though, are decisions that will determine the size and shape of the federal government and its budget for years, and years, and years to come.

Republicans undoubtedly are sincere in their arguments against the shutdown.

And Speaker Mike Johnsons timely Continuing Resolution passage in the House gives them an advantage.

Yet since no spending plans have been implemented for the new fiscal year 2026, which began October 1, the president has more than enough constitutionally mandated executive authority to end programs and reduce federal employment, as much as he chooses.

In some sense, this is the opportunity of a lifetime.

Think of it this way. If current law already defines the difference between essential and nonessential personnel, then that should and may well become the key to decision making by Mr. Trump and Mr. Vought.

And my point is a simple, simple, simple: whats nonessential, stays nonessential.

Larry Kudlow is a columnist for the New York Sun. From Mr. Kudlows broadcast on Fox Business Network.