On Saturday, Jan. 20, 2018, the United States federal government shut down for three days. There are several reasons that led to the shutdown, with blame to be shared among politicians of both parties.
The first reason is Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, which is a program that allows 800,000 immigrants who came here as children without proper documents to remain in the United States. The agreement is under review and the federal government could not reach a deal that extended the program.
DACA was also used as a bargaining tool to allow funding for a wall to be built along the border of Mexico and the United States.
“Right now, I think it’s kind of both parties [that] are unwilling to compromise with each other,” Chelsea DiPompeo, a senior accounting and international business major at Cabrini, said.
DiPompeo said she understands that Democrats are not willing to compromise without a solid replacement for DACA, but does not know how a resolution will be made if both sides cannot compromise a little.
“That’s [DACA replacement] something I’m very for, but both so sides aren’t willing to compromise and I don’t know what they expect,” DiPompeo said.
Another reason for the shutdown is that representatives and senators could not agree on a long-term bipartisan budget deal on defense spending and equal domestic funding. Equal domestic funding means that the budget has to have enough money to fund programs and keep the United States financed.
Democrats also would not act on any deal without an immigration agreement being made. Defense funding was a huge issue, as Republicans had a stoppage bill that had failed.
CHIP, or the Children’s Health Insurance Program, has been due for reauthorization for over 100 days, and some hoped that in order to renew CHIP, the Democrats would compromise on the defense funding stoppage bill, which did not happen.
“The Democrats were right to completely all-but-laugh in the Republicans’ faces when they tried to use CHIP as a bargaining tool, because children’s healthcare is not equitable to an increase in defense,” Madeline Osborne, a senior finance major, said. “Giving the Democrats what they want by renewing CHIP doesn’t make it okay for the Republicans to increase defense funding.”
During any government shutdown, all nonessential government employees are placed on unpaid leave, or what is called furlough. Essential workers typically get paid while remaining at work. Essential employees are those dealing with public safety and national security as well as senators and house representatives.
In this specific shutdown, U.S. troops were able to remain at their posts, and mail still got delivered, while 2 million civilian federal workers did not work on Monday. National parks were kept as accessible as possible.
“When the government shuts down the first thing that happens is people get hurt,” Dr. James Hedtke, a history and political science professor, said. “Every time it shuts down, it erodes trust in the American system. Democracy needs people that are confident that their government is willing to work and, for God’s sake, we can’t get an agreement on a budget.”
