Government Shutdown
The government of the United States had shut down for the longest time in American history of over 21 days (As of January 14) from December 22, 2018. Other than Trump, Bill Clinton had a government gridlock for 21 days over the funding of Medicare from 1955-1956(Sparks). We cannot predict when this Government Gridlock will end, but citizens are protesting to stop the shutdown as soon as possible because it is affecting everyone all over the United States.
In this shutdown, the Republicans were blamed because they were controlling the House of Representative and Senate at the time. This time, it focused on the fund they got for making a wall between the United States and Mexico. Trump, who is a Republican is asking for funds of approximately $5.3 Billion from Congress to start working on the wall soon. If he does not get the fund, he states that he will shut down the government, “I’ll tell you what, I am proud to shutdown the government for border security, Chuck. So, I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down. I’m not going to blame you for it.”(Sparks).
However, Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer said, “the president does not have the ability to move funds around without congressional approval.”(Trump retreats on wall). Also, Nancy Pelosi, the top for the House explained that building a wall between the United States and Mexico is just a waste of money. Currently, the lawyers collected only a grant for $1.6 Billion Dollars for border security. However, none of the $1.6 Billion dollars are for the construction of the wall. Because of this disagreement between the president, democrats, house, and senate, Trump decided to gridlock the government until he reaches the funds for the construction of the wall and we do not know when this will end.
At the same time as the United States, the British Parliament’s lawmakers mired in gridlock because of Britain’s departure from the European nations. Rarely, the government for the United States and the United Kingdom do not synchronize. However, Nigel Farage, a grandfather of Brexit once answered how he is invoking Europe’s migrant crisis as a reason to back Mr. Trump’s wall. (Barry and Landler).Meaning, Nigel Farage was supporting Trump’s idea of constructing a wall.
Many things can happen when the federal government shuts down. Essential services like Airport security will remain, but the security may be a little weaker than usual. Other than that, passports cannot be issued until the government is funded again. People who work in federal departments or agencies either have to time off, or they are told to work with no payment. In the past, 42,000 people have been forced to work without pay and another 380,000 furloughed (Kerr and Tiefenthaler). The federal government will have to resume back, or not, people will be unpaid, passports cannot be issues, national parks cannot be cleaned up, and many consequences may happen all around the United States.
There are not a lot of options of what president Trump can do regarding this government gridlock. The Washington Post states there are 5 options for President Trump. The first option is to keep the government shut down, but currently (3 weeks in), Trump is told to be losing the PR battle in the Congress. Washington Post-ABC new polls reported, “By a wide margin, more Americans blame President Trump and Republicans in Congress than congressional Democrats for the now record-breaking government shutdown, and most reject the president’s assertion that there is an illegal immigration crisis on the southern border.”(Alemany). Other than that, he can declare a national emergency, use Lindsey Graham’s plan, Compromise, or give Mexico the choice of the construction of the wall. Currently, the white house is looking through seizure funds, diverting funds from Pentagon construction projects, and unused money in the army to obtain the money to create the wall between Mexico.
Trump states that he has the right to declare a national emergency and the Republicans are supporting that idea as well. However, If he really declares a national emergency, there are many consequences including the Defence Secretary will have to take place. From 1979, 58 National Emergencies were declared and the 59th can be declared in few days.
