Imagine a big playground with a gate and a special toy box. The grown-ups who run the playground are split into two teams. One team is called the Democrats. The other team is the other grown-ups.
1) The gate and the snacks (money): One job of the grown-ups in the playground is to give snacks and open the gate so kids can play. If the Democrats are in charge of that job, they can refuse to give snacks or open the gate. That can make parts of the playground stay closed — that is like the government being closed.
2) The toy box (files): But someone else might be holding the special toy box with important papers inside. That could be the person who runs the toys (the President’s team). The Democrats cannot just take the toy box from them. They can ask for it, or tell them to share, but the toy-holder can say, "No, it's secret."
3) Asking and deciding: If the toy-holder says no, the Democrats can ask a helper called a judge (like a referee) to decide. The judge can tell who is right. Sometimes the judge says the toy-holder must share. Sometimes the judge says the toy-holder can keep it secret.
4) Why both things can happen at once: So the Democrats might have the power to keep the gate closed by saying no to snacks. But they don’t always have the power to make the toy-holder open the toy box. Those are two different jobs, and sometimes a judge has to help decide about the toy box.
That’s why the playground can stay closed, but the special papers can still be kept inside the toy box for now.