This past Friday, President Donald J. Trump signed legislation which temporarily ended the longest government shutdown in United States history. The shutdown began on December 22nd, after Democrats refused to provide the President with funding for his border wall. For the duration of the shutdown, countless Americans went without pay. According to the National Public Radio, of those that were affected by the shutdown, many came close to being forced to shut off their electricity. In some drastic cases, individuals began cutting down on the amount and type of food they buy. We can only hope that officials in Washington can agree on legislation before the next shutdown occurs.

Mexico

At the start of his presidential campaign, Donald Trump frequently promised his supporters that he would “Make America Great Again” by securing the Southern Border of the United States with a wall. Trump also promised that the wall would cost the American people nothing because he would  force Mexico to pay for the wall. Needless to say, Mexico has refused to pay for anything related to the Southern Border of the United States.

Why now? This is a question people have been asking frequently as of late. The president had control over all three branches of government for two years; what caused him to not take advantage of that and pass legislation for increase spending on border security and the wall? This is what one Cal High student (who requested to remain anonymous) had this to say: “I feel like this whole shutdown is a knee-jerk reaction to the GOP losing the house. If they had kept control until 2020, I don’t think we would have seen the President try and get the wall passed until his lame-duck period. But, since the Democrats won, President Trump probably wanted to show that he could still control the government by building the wall.”

Another question commonly asked is whether or not increased spending on border security/ building a wall is necessary. A well spoken Republican associate of mine (who requested to remain anonymous) answered this question: “…I believe that our country needs to protect its borders and stop anyone who is illegally entering. However, I disagree with our President on the way we should proceed with that; I believe that a wall would be completely ineffective and far too expensive to build. People are well capable of climbing over walls, digging under them, and even destroying them. That last one is what worries me the most, I am certain that the border wall would be the target of countless terrorist attacks; it would be a shame for something meant to protect the American people became something that could possibly harm those working at the Southern border.”

The end of the shutdown marked relief for many government workers, but the public still watches the executive and legislative branches go to war over Trump’s wall.

Photo Credits Wikimedia Commons 2019