WASHINGTON — As the government shutdown entered its fifteenth day, a U.S. senator threw a lively birthday celebration for his bulldog, drawing a crowd to the Capitol, even as the nation stood still.

Republican Sen. Jim Justice’s beloved bulldog, Babydog, turned six and was the star of the event. Underneath a festive balloon arch, she donned a pink and white hat while Capitol Hill staffers queued up to pay their respects. Partygoers enjoyed cakes and cake pops, each crafted in the adorable likeness of the birthday pup.

Meanwhile, a few blocks away at the White House, President Donald Trump hosted a dinner for America’s elite. The opulent affair featured beef Wellington and butterscotch ice cream, served on gold-rimmed china. During his 37-minute speech, Trump made no mention of the ongoing government shutdown, choosing instead to thank his guests for their generous contributions toward a new White House ballroom, which had already surpassed a staggering $250 million.

“This is really a knockout crowd,” Trump remarked, clearly pleased with the lucrative support for the ballroom project.

As Washington’s movers and shakers continued their business-as-usual lifestyle, the stark contrast with the plight of thousands of furloughed federal workers could not be more pronounced. Many government employees, left without pay, are struggling to make ends meet, while those responsible for the shutdown indulge in lavish celebrations.

The scene highlights a shift in the political landscape. Gone are the days when politicians might avoid being seen at frivolous gatherings during a shutdown. Now, such events seem to underscore the disconnect between Washington’s power brokers and the everyday citizens feeling the shutdown’s impact.

“Everything still seems to be the same, except it’s not. Except most of these people aren’t getting paid,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, told NBC News, noting that the Senate has continued its committee hearings, constituent meetings and normal voting schedules despite the shutdown. “I don’t think that’s right. I just don’t think that’s right. And so, yeah, it’s — and it just feels different than any other shutdown.”

The federal government has been shut down since Oct. 1 after Democrats and Republicans in Congress, and the president, couldn’t agree on a spending bill to keep it funded.

Lawmakers have since been working, to be sure. They’re delivering floor speeches blaming the opposing party for the shutdown and repeatedly casting votes on the same two resolutions to reopen the government that they know don’t have enough support. Some lawmakers have been having informal discussions about potential ways to break the logjam, but Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., told NBC News on Thursday that while those talks had been “productive … they’re done.” Members of Congress also continue to get paid, as their pay is protected under the Constitution.

But members of their staffs and the many people who keep the Capitol operating aren’t. A congressional staffer, who asked not to be named to protect their privacy, said that while Congress doesn’t seem to be in a big hurry to reopen the government, the shutdown is urgent for them and their family.

“My husband is a federal worker too, so for us, this is definitely urgent. We have a family to support,” the staffer told NBC News.

Like Congress, Trump has been busy with government business, holding an average of nearly an event a day since the shutdown began. He has traveled to the Middle East to mark a deal aimed at ending the war in Gaza. He’s hosting foreign leaders. Later this month, he is scheduled to take a multiday trip to Asia for world leader summits and meetings.

Trump also went forward this week with a previously scheduled Rose Garden ceremony honoring conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated last month, on what would have been Kirk’s 32nd birthday. On Friday, he’ll meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House to discuss the war with Russia before he hops on a flight to Florida to spend the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

The White House has called several aides who were initially furloughed back to work in recent days. While those staffers are working without pay, military personnel who service the presidency, such as the pilots, flight attendants and other staff members on Air Force One, are expected to continue receiving paychecks. The Defense Department shifted funding from elsewhere in its budget to ensure members of the military are paid during the shutdown.

The White House also said Thursday that federal law enforcement officers, including those from Customs and Border Patrol, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Secret Service and the Drug Enforcement ministration, will be paid during the shutdown.

Trump, too, will continue getting his paycheck under federal law, though he has said he donates his salary.

At the same time, the White House has used the shutdown as cover to fire some federal workers. The Trump administration has already issued layoff notices to more than 4,000 government employees, though a federal judge blocked the move for now. The White House has said it plans to appeal.

If the firings are allowed to go forward, White House budget chief Russell Vought said, the total could “grow higher” and “probably end up being north of 10,000.”

Millions of tourists visit the U.S. Capitol every year, but tours are closed to the public because of the shutdown. Private tour groups arranged by senators and House members, however, have continued in abundance. Unlike in past shutdowns, cafeterias in the Capitol are open, trash is being picked up, grandfather clocks are still being wound, and some lawmakers have yet to furlough a single staff member.

Past shutdowns have led members of Congress to frantically work weekend legislative sessions and hold late-night working pizza dinners to try to end the impasses. But this time, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has kept his members out of Washington since the shutdown began, and senators have consistently taken three-day weekends.

Asked about the Senate’s weekend breaks, Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told NBC News he will continue to allow senators to go home at the end of the week until there’s actual movement in negotiations.

“If it looks like there’s productive reason for doing it, of course I’ll do it,” Thune said of keeping members in session over a weekend. “But if, you know, if it’s just no, no, no, no, no and we’re not making any headway, then I’m not sure what the point would be. But you know, I’m open to any suggestion that would help get the government back open.”

Once the government reopens, federal workers will receive back pay to cover the shutdown, whether they worked or not. But that wasn’t always the case. In 2019, Congress passed a law that guaranteed back pay to federal workers furloughed during shutdowns. That guarantee seems to have led lawmakers and the executive branch to furlough fewer staff members this time, senators said.

“I think the vibe is a little bit different this time because of the back pay guarantee,” Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said in an interview this week.

Some Republicans, who were around for the 16-day government shutdown in 2013, said they believe that then-President Barack Obama and then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., purposefully made the Capitol complex and federal agencies less hospitable during that funding crisis, hoping the pain would lead lawmakers to end that shutdown.

“I think it was intentionally,” said Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., who told NBC News he hasn’t furloughed anyone on his staff for this shutdown.

Obama, he said, was focused on shutting down “as many things you can, make it as hard on everybody as you can, and Harry Reid did the same thing here in the Senate.”

And while lawmakers continue to be paid during the shutdown, Justice, R-W.Va., Babydog’s owner, said he is donating his paycheck to his state’s National Guard.

“There are people out there depending on us, and right now, it’s a dog’s mess,” Justice said in an interview Wednesday. “A government shutdown is the most ridiculous thing on the planet, and really, truly, we need to be working together and get across the finish line.”

Babydog had no better answer than the humans in the Capitol have had about when the shutdown might end.

“Snort,” she replied when she was asked at her birthday party how Congress and the White House might reach a resolution to reopen the government.