By MARIAM KHAN
The 2018-19 government shutdown that lasted 35 days from December 22 to January 25,was the longest in US history. President Trump and Congress could not agree on an appropriations bill and came to an impasse over Trump’s demand to fund a US-Mexico border wall. I hit the hallways to get a feel for Jericho High School students’ and teachers’ reactions to the government shutdown.
“There’s that what’s called a multiplier effect as a result of the shutdown.”
History teacher Mr. Whelan said his brother-in-law who works for the IRS was affected by the shutdown. To prevent such situations, he believes that there should be a law preventing a shutdown going forward. He also thinks that are a lot of unintended consequences that come from the shutdown. “Obviously if you have 800,00 federal employees not working, they’re not able to spend as much money in their localities, and that’s affecting businesses and so forth,” he explained. Due to this situation, he said, “There’s that what’s called a multiplier effect as a result of the shutdown.”
“I think Trump made a dumb decision.”
Junior Daisy D. said that the shutdown was unnecessary and affects the economy. She added, “The people working in the government are people doing the regulation for the country, so if they don’t go to work I think it may cause problems.” Furthermore, Junior Amya W. said, “One disadvantage of the government shutdown is that access to government websites is closed.”
“Our president should have taken action.”
Senior Afrah A. said that the president should have taken action if people were getting angered and it was negatively affecting their lives. To prevent shutdowns she believes that the government must go with what the majority of the people want.
“We need a new president.”
Science teacher Ms. Kipnis believes that the government shutdown continues to further divide the country. She said a straightforward solution to prevent future shutdowns is to get a new president. “ I think we need to indict him and we need to put him away for a long time and get a new president,” she added.
“I think it’s useless without compromise.”
In regards to the two week compromise, art teacher Mr. Ciminelli said that people making decisions for the government shutdown aren’t directly affected by those decisions and that they’re hurting people. “I think the temporary situation was useless without compromise,” he added. To prevent these situations in the future, he believes there needs to be a balance within the two parties.