At the stroke of midnight on Dec. 22, 2018, the U.S government shutdown leaving over 800,000 government workers without pay and left the country into the longest shutdown in the history of the United States.
The shutdown came as a response to Congress’s inability to make the decision over the funding of the wall construction between the United States and Mexico.
Most Republicans want to pass a government budget that includes five billion in funds for Trump’s wall, while the Democrats refuse to sign on any bill that includes the wall funding. Trump is refusing to sign any bill that does not include wall funding.
Prior to the shutdown, the Clinton administration held the record for the longest government shutdown. The 21 day shutdown took place on Dec. 16, 1995 to Jan. 6, 1996 as a result of a disagreement of between the Democrats and Republicans arguing over which budget model to follow.
According to political science professor Dr. James Hedtke, this shutdown is unique because the disagreement was over the construction of the wall.
“Government shutdowns have usually been linked to trying to get a budget under control….. A lot of times the whole idea of a government shutdown was to get government spending under control. This [current shutdown] is different, ” Hedke said. “ This is all about building a wall… to keep people out of the United States.”
Government shutdowns have occurred numerous times throughout the history of the country, but it never disturbed government agencies or its workers. They would continue to operate despite a shutdown, which would typically only be a few days in length.
It was not until the Carter administration in the late 1970s that this practice was changed.
Attorney General Benjamin Civilietti thought that during government shutdowns “no funds may be expended except as necessary to bring about the orderly termination of an agency’s functions.”
Essentially, Civiletti was saying that if the government has not agreed on a budget, it should not be spending money to operate its agencies or pay for government workers.
According to the Washington Post, “Civiletti added that the expenditure of additional funds without congressional approval would violate the Antideficiency Act of 1870”.
Regardless of the politics behind the government shutdown, the day to day functions of government agencies has come to a screeching halt and has affected the American public.
Some 800,000 employees of the government agencies have either been furloughed or forced to work without pay.
Junior social work major Grace Adams expressed sorrow for those affected by the shutdown.
“While I, personally, am not harmed by the shutdown,” Adams said, “my heart goes out to those who are.”
The morale among TSA workers, who are essential for national security, is so low that the workers have been calling out sick. In the last week, Miami International Airport announced that it would be closing a terminal because it did not have enough security officers.
Librarian Anne Schwelm has several furlough family members who have taken up side jobs to generate an income. Her sister, Marjorie, who works for IRS, has taken up a side job delivering groceries to her elderly neighbors.
She also has two nephews who work for the FBI. One is working at his uncle’s lobster business and the other is using his time for leisure and visiting family.
On a positive note, Schwelm noted her sister, Marjorie, had just been called back to work and was hopeful that the government shutdown was drawing to a close.
“Some of the 60,000 IRS workers were called back…” Schwelm noted. “She [Marjorie] does see the light at the end of the tunnel.”
