U.S. Government: Open or Closed?

On January 25, 2019, President Donald Trump announced that funding would be restored to the United States’ government until February 15 - ending the longest government shutdown in United States’ history. The infamous shutdown lasted from December 22, 2018 to January 25, 2019, thirty-five days and two missed paychecks for many government employees.

The government shutdown occurred because Congress couldn’t agree with the president on a budget for the upcoming fiscal year. President Trump wanted approximately 5 billion dollars for a United States-Mexico border wall and would not approve any funding without it.

As such, no appropriations bill was passed. Or in other words, Trump didn’t get the money he wanted. This effectively shut down one-eighth of the government, sending over 800,000 workers either into furlough or into work the next day with no promise of pay until the government was reopened.

According to an article on CNN, Air Traffic Controller William Striffler worked a sixty-four hour pay period during this shutdown and received in return for his labor a paycheck with a net pay of $0.00. This has happened to almost half a million government workers in the past month.

Now that the government is back up and running for the next three weeks to give time for both parties to agree on funding for the 2019 fiscal year. The central question from these workers is: when are they going to get paid? Hopefully soon, because President Trump has hinted that if a deal is not made by February 15, the government may be closing again. So, what then?

By Alexa Freedman