My opinion on the government shutdown

Devin Moody

Ms. Hesse

2/8/19

P.4

Recently, there was a government shutdown in our country.It has greatly affected innocent people with the loss of their paychecks which has forced them to get another job. During this time, the president did nothing but worry about his wall. This has NOT helped his popularity or his trust with the american people. I want to show the effects of this shutdown.

So let’s go back to why the shutdown started. It started because of tension with the president and legislative branch. The text “It’s Day 24 of the partial shutdown” states ““Dec. 11, 2018: In a contentious Oval Office meeting with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Trump vows to shut down the government if he doesn't get funding for his border wall: "I am proud to shutdown the government for border security.”(Todd). This is when the shutdown was first mentioned and when rising tensions were first shown. This might also be Trump showing his stubbornness. The text also states ““Dec. 20: After prodding from Trump, the GOP-led House of Representatives passes a bill that provides $5 billion-plus funding for a border wall — but which can't get 60 votes in the Senate.”(Todd). At that point it was clear that there was very much a rising tension in the government and that the president’s promise of a shutdown might come true.

During this time, many polls were formed to see how the people felt about this. Many of them show that people were as split as the government. The text “CNN poll Trump bears most blame for the shutdown”states ““All of these results are sharply divided along party lines. Nearly 9 in 10 Democrats oppose a wall along the border while 8 in 10 Republicans favor one. Seven in 10 Republicans say the situation at the border is a crisis and two-thirds believe a wall would fix it, while about three-quarters of Democrats say there is no crisis, and just 4% feel that there is one that a wall would help improve.”(Agiesta). This sharp divide between the people made it harder to come to a compromise. It also shows how stubborn people can really be. The author of “America blames Trump over democrats for the shutdown poll finds” also states “”Unsurprisingly, there was a wide partisan divide in opinion. While 85 percent of Democrats blamed Trump and congressional Republicans, 68 percent of Republican voters blamed congressional Democrats.”(Cummings). This just shows how rash and overreacting decisions do nothing to help people. This is also why people should into what the people affected want before making decisions.

Most surprisingly, the president shutting down the government has cut off people's paychecks, many of which still had to work. This, in my opinion is just a wrong thing to do, because these people did nothing wrong. The text “Government shutdown across America” states “About 800,000 federal workers are going without pay — and a growing number of them, worrying about missing mortgage and credit card payments, are filing for unemployment benefits.”(Blinder). This is an outrageous amount of people that were left without pay. The text “Trump kicks off day 24 of longest shutdown by blaming democrats” also states ”President Donald Trump spoke at the 100th Annual Convention of the American Farm Bureau Federation Monday but largely focused his remarks on the border wall. Trump did not address the impact of the delay of federal subsidies to farmers but applauded the Department of Agriculture’s efforts to limit the shutdown’s negative effects on farmers. He also pledged to make the legal immigration process easier for those coming to the United States to work on farms.”( Hadar). Instead of worrying about the people weren’t getting paid during the shutdown, the president only talked about the wall and stopping immigrants. This is an outrageous amount of people who had gone without pay and still had to do labor.

This was the longest government shutdown to date. This was pretty pointless in my opinion and the fact that there was already a decision made before this just boggles me. And the threat of another shutdown just proves to me that the president doesn’t want any form of civilized conversation.

Work cited

“The Longest Shutdown” NBC News

https://www.nbcnews.com/holidayshutdown

“Trump bears most blame for the shutdown” CNN News

Agiesta, Jennifer https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/13/politics/cnn-poll-shutdown-trump/index.html

“Government Shutdown across America” NY Times

Blinder, Alan https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/13/us/government-shutdown-impact.html

“Trump kicks off day 24 of longest shutdown by blaming democrats” ABC News Hadar, Roey https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-kicks-off-day-24-longest-shutdown-blaming/story?id=60359096

“America blames trump over democrats by wide margin, poll finds” USA Today Cummings,William https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2019/01/13/shutdown-abc-washington-post-poll/2564178002/