Shutdown Continues

Julian Dreiman
January 17, 2019

As we enter the fourth week of the partial federal Government shutdown, President Trump’s immoral actions have become strikingly clear.

Since the shutdown, which began in Dec. 2018, The New York Times reports that more than 800,000 federal employees and millions of federal contractors have been furloughed or are working without pay. Trump has stripped these Americans of a working wage and of the dignity of being United States federal employees.

These Americans who dedicate their lives to this country cannot afford to pay their rents, mortgages, car loans or even everyday expenses like education and leisure. Park rangers who cannot go to work must watch as our National Parks go to the wayside. At Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California, vegetation and rock formations are being defaced, bathrooms are overflowing or closed and trash litters the landscape. At airports, travelers wait in long security lines because of TSA understaffing. Farmers in America’s heartland are not receiving the critical loans needed to plan next year’s crop. Visitors to Washington D.C. are greeted by a ghost town with shuttered museums and monuments. And these negative side effects are just beginning.

If the government cannot get funded, the 38 million Americans who rely on food stamps are at risk of going hungry and the federal court system is less than a week away from running out of funding. The government must be funded as soon as possible, but withholding federal employees’ wages and threatening to declare a national emergency are not the answers; passing bipartisan legislation is.

The Pew Research Center reports that only 40 percent of Americans support the border wall, thus Trump’s actions are undemocratic and simply wrong. Trump, before this shutdown claimed, “I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down. ” Mr.Trump, the calamity of this shutdown is on you and you alone. For the sake of your reputation, the livelihood of millions of Americans and the democratic underpinnings of this nation, please end your shutdown.

Julian Dreiman is a political science and economics major.