Author: Georgia Charalambides
At the beginning of a New Year, a government must decide on what they will spend their money on throughout the New Year. A government shutdown occurs when the two parties cannot decide how to divide and budget their money. From then on all jobs seen as non-essential government appointed jobs are put on hold and the other jobs, which are still essential, must carry on but without pay.
The American government shutdown started on the 22nd of December 2018 and is still happening because Trump wanted to use 5.7 billion USD to build the rest of his wall on the border of America and Mexico but the democrats are refusing to pay for it.
This has affected 800 000+ US government workers who are now being forced to work without pay. Some are comparing this to slavery as most workers won’t be compensated. As a result of this, many workers are calling in sick, for example: TSA agents (the people who work at airports to check bags) are calling in sick and consequently many guns are making it through security undetected, and the lines are incredibly long.
The government shutdown is not only affecting government workers but also low-income households. These people are being evicted from their homes, as they are no longer being subsidised by the government.
The government will not open until the two parties, the Democrats and the Republicans compromise on what to do with the money. The shutdown does not look like it will be ending soon as both parties are not willing to compromise. This has been the longest shutdown in all of American history and has been going on for over a month.