Twas’ the weeks before Christmas, when all through the states, the Americans were panicked for their government’s fate. Trump told all who’d listen that he wanted his wall, and if this didn’t happen, he’s shut down it all. Clever rhyming aside, the US Federal government is potentially headed for a shutdown at President Trump’s request because Democratic representatives in Congress won’t give Trump the votes that he needs to allocate the necessary funds to construct a massive wall along the US-Mexico border. Last week, Trump sat down with two members from the Democratic Party; Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. During this meeting, which can be viewed via several entertaining clips on the internet, Trump expressed, in a less than politically cordial tone, his adamance on funding the border security wall.
“If we don’t have border security, we’ll shut down the government — this country needs border security. I will take the mantle, I will be the one to shut it down. I’m not going to blame you [Democrats] for it.”
-President Donald Trump
The wall has become synonymous with President Trump’s time in office, really. People originally had their doubts about the wall, some people hated the wall, but plans for the wall continued to gain tread. Now, even more, Americans are against the wall, and some just don’t care about what the wall has to say.
All the wall things aside, the question on everyone’s mind in America is: Will President Trump actually shut down the government?
The US Federal government is but a few days shy of its Dec. 21 deadline to vote on legislation the would provide the entity proper funding. It is clear, from several headlines and his own social media interactions, that President Trump has no intention of letting the upcoming deadline pass without an iron-clad agreement from Congress approving Trump’s $5 billion funding request for the wall. Aside from the wall, parts of the federal government will be cash poor in one week’s time if the White House and Congress don’t approve several funding bills. While Trump has puffed up his chest, saying that he’d be “proud” to shut down the federal government if the Democrats don’t increase their $1.3 billion wall package to $5 billion, shutting down the government will cause serious financial duress to hundreds of thousands of nonessential government workers across the country.
According to several political analysts, if the federal government is indeed shut down from operations, governmental departments crucial to the everyday survival of low-income families and individuals will suffer the consequences. In anticipation of a federal government shutdown, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue issued a public statement informing Americans, namely those that rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, on how the USDA will make its services available in the event of a shutdown.
“USDA is committed to safeguarding life and property through the critical services we provide – and should the government shutdown, we will continue to do just that. I am proud of each USDA employee for everything they do to benefit the farmers, ranchers, foresters, and producers who depend on our services. It is their mission each day to fulfill our USDA motto, ‘Do right and feed everyone.”
–Sonny Perdue, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture
Perdue went on to explain that the SNAP program and other government-funded food support programs including child nutrition programs in schools, and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, will “have funding available to operate through the month of February, and many have funds to continue operations through March…” The Trump administration Sunday reaffirmed their stance on unplugging the government in the event of Congress deciding not to give Trump his milk money, with senior adviser Stephen Miller referring to this as a “fundamental issue.”
“At stake is the question of whether or not the United States remains a sovereign country. The Democrat Party has a simple choice. They can either choose to fight for America’s working class or to promote illegal immigration. You can’t do both.”
– Stephen Miller, Senior Adviser to President Donald Trump
While I very much understand the divisive nature of the current situation facing the federal government, I disagree with Miller’s monochromatic assessment. No one in this country wants to see the government shutdown, this much is known. As for fighting for the American working class, I find it ironic that these sentiments come from the Senior Adviser to an individual whose income bracket places him in the 1% of earners in the United States.
I fail to see the correlation between funding the wall and supporting the working class. In my opinion, the Trump administration has exhausted all options and is using pure rhetorical statements to convince Americans of its agenda, but nevertheless, we shall see if the federal government is, in fact, powered down.
