The government shutdown that began at 12:01 a.m. is the sixth such closure in the past three decades. It was easily the most foreseeable.

That congressional Democrats would force this confrontation became clear almost from the moment they ducked a clash over spending with Republicans in March. Back then, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer convinced just enough of his members that a government shutdown would empower President Donald Trump to govern even more heedlessly and punitively than he already was. The blowback was intense. Rank-and-file Democrats—and even some party leaders—accused Schumer of surrendering one of the party’s only remaining levers in Washington without a fight.

The springtime uproar ensured that Democrats would take a tougher stand this time, and now government offices across the country will close and federal employees will stay home without pay. Many could lose their jobs if the Trump administration carries out its threat to use a shutdown to supercharge its slashing of the workforce. But the political outcome for Democrats might be just as disappointing.