Image Source: The Huffington Post
On December 22, 2018, President Donald Trump shutdown the federal government in an attempt to get over five billion dollars for his proposed border wall. At the beginning of the shutdown, President Trump said he was more than willing to accept the responsibility for the shutdown of the government. However on January 3rd of 2019, President Trump shifted the responsibility to Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi and other House Democrats.
Federal workers for almost two months have gone without pay and that is hard for so many families.
In a Huffington Post interview with a California woman she said, “My husband is an air traffic controller, deemed essential and working without pay during the shutdown. We are a single-income family, with a child who has special needs. This shutdown is causing us financial and emotional stress.” She says she blames Trump and the Republicans for the government shutdown.
In another interview with Huffington Post, a California man said this about the shutdown, “Members of my family are active military, TSA, and Park Service. They will not receive paychecks until this shutdown is resolved. I hope the Democrats who partied with the lobbyists in Puerto Rico, Miami, Las Vegas, and Hawaii choke on their mai tais and fancy meals.” He says he blames Trump, the Republicans and the Democrats for the government shutdown.
According to the BBC News website, President Trump ordered the shutdown to cease on Friday, January 25th. Both the House and the Senate unanimously passed a bill that would temporarily end the shutdown and President Trump then signed it into law.
After the vote, President Trump tweeted that “this is in no way a concession” and that he was ending the shutdown to take care of the “millions of people who were getting badly hurt by the shutdown.”
According to the New York Times website, the government is set to be open for three weeks.
However, if an agreement is not met between the Democrats and the Republicans, President Trump says, “If we don’t get a fair deal from Congress, the government will either shut down on Feb. 15, or I will use the powers afforded to me under the laws and Constitution of the United States to address this emergency.”
According to the ABC 13 website, President Trump has said he can also declare a national emergency to fund a border wall if Congress does not grant him the money he needs for his wall.
As of right now, it is unclear if the government will shutdown again or if some kind of compromise will be made. Whatever the government decides to do, hopefully it is in the best interest of the American people.
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