***Opinion pieces reflect the opinion of the writer only, and not the opinion of the newspaper staff, student body, administration or school faculty.***

The government shutdown has been the longest in American history, lasting 37 days. Without a government it has been hard for the citizens that rely on government assistance. Due to the Senate and president not being able to establish a budget for the new year it was shutdown and now the government is active once again. But for how long?

The government will be active as long as the U.S. pays for the wall that President Donald Trump has been preaching about since his campaign. The president refuses to budge, he wants to receive 5 billion dollars of the government budget to build a wall that 59% of the population doesn’t want. Since the beginning of Trump’s campaign he has promised the United States citizens that Mexico would pay for the wall. Now he turns around and not only makes America pay for the wall, but he shuts down the government in order to pay for it, which is downright absurd.

The government is back and now the citizens are content for a brief moment. Their government is active for three weeks until the Senate can come up with a budget that the president would agree too. But if the government budget is still not established by the end of the week the government will once again shut down. The country needs to band together during this time of crisis and momentary content of government reinstatement.

As of right now no Republican senator has signed any bill to give compensation back to the government workers who continued to work after the shutdown, which is a complete disrespect to the government employees who have worked hard during the time of the shutdown. With just reasons the government employees should receive compensation. The government shutdown has also put our whole entire health and safety of the United States in turmoil. Federal departments such as the FDA, CDC, and more are now back into effect, but what has happened during the government shutdown? The FDA has put on hold many of their routine checks on foods and drugs putting us all in a state of vulnerability, which doesn’t help with the effect it’s having on the CDC and the changes in healthcare.

The United States is in a state of concern for the government to become shut down again within the next few days, but all Americans can do now is wait and see what will happen.