Eastside Students Talk Government Shutdown

Beginning on Saturday, December 22, large portions of the United States federal government have been shut down. This shutdown, which has lasted approximately a month already, is the longest in American history.

The shutdown started when President Donald Trump and the United States Congress couldn’t come to an agreement on an appropriations bill. This argument over funding has led to an ongoing standoff in which 800,000 federal employees have been furloughed or have had to work without pay.

Senior Hailey Gonzalez, president of the NextUp club on campus, isn’t happy about the shutdown. “TSA officials, 800,000 federal workers, and contractors aren’t being paid,” she says.

About one-fifth of these workers are making less than $50,000, which often means that they don’t have a lot of savings.

“People have families and kids to feed,” Hailey says. “But this is all because our President didn’t get his wall? That’s childish.”

Hailey’s not the only student frustrated by the shutdown. Noah Lovell, another Eastside student, says, “It's not fair for all the people that have to work if they’re not going to be paid appropriately for their time.”