Government Opened After Shutdown

Shutdown
Posted on 02/08/2019

Maximos Dell’Anno
Staff Writer

The American government just reopened after yet another shutdown. This is the longest shutdown the government has ever faced and an ending is unsure up to this point. The issue lies in the Appropriation Bills for the year, and more specifically the $5 billion Trump wants for his wall.
This government shutdown is quite simple.

Trump wants the money for his wall and the Senate will not approve his request for the money. So in return Trump won’t pass anything that doesn’t include the money for his wall. When the government can’t work things out and lack funding, it shuts down. 800,000 workers are being furloughed were out of a job.

On Thursday, January 24th, there was an attempt by Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, to end the shutdown. He put two bills on the floor for voting, one with wall funding, and one without. The idea was that one of them would get the 60 votes needed, and it could be passed on to Trump where he could either sign or veto the bill.

Trump would’ve most likely signed the bill with wall funding and vetoed the one without, but it didn’t even get that far, because neither bill got the 60 votes needed in the Senate. As a result, it’s back to the drawing boards for everyone.

What needs to happen is one of the two things. Either the Democrats need to compromise or the Republicans do. But, no one wants to do that because it could be the end of their jobs. Trump’s Wall was a big part of his campaign, and him not being able to build his wall would be viewed as him not being a very accomplished President, making it harder for him to get reelected.

The Senate couldn’t pass either bill because of numbers. How it roughly works is you have the 51 Republicans in the Senate voting for wall funding, and the 49 Democrats voting against it. When 60 is needed to win, this is a recipe for disaster.

Everyone looking out for their jobs is a huge part of the problem.

Trump, however, opened the government for 3 weeks, until February 15th, in attempt to make a deal in that time, otherwise it will be right back to a shutdown. There is another option though, Trump could use the powers in the Constitution allowing him to overpass Congress and build the wall. Declaring the issue as a “National Emergency."

This could help avoid another shutdown, but it will cause major issue because Trump’s case for building the wall under that regard is relatively weak.

Unless anything crazy happens, the government will be shut down again February 15th, Trump bypassing Congress to build the wall is quite a bold idea that is unlikely. The issue will be ongoing until one side gives, and right now it’s not seeming like either side is willing to give any ground.

At this rate, Trump’s dream of being reelected is about as likely as the Saints getting their wish for a rematch against the Rams. Trump needs to get out of this shutdown as soon as possible.


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