Government shutdowns should not be a thing. Now, I could just end the article there, but maybe I should give you a little more information.
“I know there are many hard working government employees who are temporarily or permanently out of work,” said junior Ethan Lauer.
And yeah, he’s very, very right. And then thousands upon thousands of people are forced to still work, but for free. They don’t get pay checks. Like why is this acceptable? When private companies refuse to pay employees, it’s a federal crime. But when it’s in the public sector, it’s fine!
Senior Lily Crowley said, “My dad, a government employee, is left uninformed and hasn’t been able to work due to the shutdown. It is making me anxious and honestly angry about our government.”
The Crowley’s are just one out of more than two million families that are down a stream of income in these trying times, but I’m sure her quote speaks for every single one of them.
Now I promise you I’m not being overdramatic with my use of the word “force.” You literally cannot take leave from work if you are not being paid. You will most likely be fired. Hello, how does this make any sense to anybody?
History teacher Mrs. Lemmon said, “A lot of people would be up in arms over that, because you are going to work every single day, and you’re not getting a paycheck, and you’re required to be there.”
I’m sure many of the people that find it easy to turn a blind eye to this would be nearly causing a coo if it was their paycheck in jeopardy instead of somebody else’s.
But while people all over America are unpaid and unsure of their next meal, do you wanna know who actually is getting paid? The people in charge of ending the shutdown. That’s right, people in Congress really have zero incentive to end the shutdown unless by some miracle they start to actually care about their own citizens, so, unlikely.
Crowley said, “They should be meeting every day and working tirelessly to fix this because they owe it to the people.”
The lack of bi-partisanship in our country is ridiculous; We couldn’t come together on a couple things so that more than two million government workers weren’t out of a job?
Now, the shutdown happened basically because of healthcare. Do you remember ObamaCare? The Affordable Care Act? Yeah, that’s the one. Basically the Republicans want to eliminate that so they have more funding to use on other things, such as the border.
Well the Democrats are basically like “dude, no, people need that” and they’re refusing to pass the spending bill until healthcare is at the current rate.
Though the republicans are the ones responsible for creating the spending bill, they need the support of at least seven democrats in order for the bill to pass, and only three have agreed, Pennsylvania’s very own John Fetterman being one of them.
Instead of trying to create a solution to the shutdown, these idiots just keep on voting on the same spending bill over and over and over like it’s going to magically change the next time.
This bill has failed TWELVE TIMES and for some odd reason they are still trying, while people are starving all across the country.
Military workers aren’t getting paid, Air Traffic Control isn’t getting paid, law enforcement isn’t getting paid, TSA isn’t getting paid, 900,000 people were furloughed. How many millions will it take for the people we voted on, elected into office, and trusted to do right by us no matter what, to ACTUALLY do what they campaigned on? I mean, this is just absolutely ridiculous.
Junior Finn Bogan said, “I think everything is so polarized right now that I don’t think they will be able to collaborate to fix things.”
This is the third time we have faced a shutdown across both of Donald Trump’s presidential terms, one lasting for three days and the other 35, the longest shutdown in history.
The 35 day shutdown finally came to an end after the pressure from federal workers was reaching a boiling point and Air Traffic Control went on strike, so Donald Trump agreed to a temporary spending bill.
Now, once again, Air Traffic Control is coming closer and closer to another strike, so many that will put this long road to an end.
If you are unhappy with the state of our government right now, please never forget the importance of voting. Even in local elections. If you are old enough to register, do it right away.
Remember, We The People hold the power, and we should require more from our elected officials.
“In a democracy, accountability always comes through the ballot box. If we disagree with policies of a political party, or we disagree with our elected officials, we have constitutionally protected rights under the Bill of Rights we may exercise to express our views.
We can always vote for an alternative candidate who represents the opposition to those in power. We can always write to or call our representatives to express our support for bills or policies, or register our disagreements as well,” said Mr. Zebrine.
