Joshua trees are being cut down in Arizona’s Joshua Tree National Park. Atlanta’s international airport warns passengers of their three-hour wait times. The White House serves fast food to the Clemson Tigers. The effects of the government shutdown are going to further and further extremes with every week it continues.

 Government shutdowns start from conflict with managing the budget. If it isn’t resolved by the deadline, government entities must drastically reoperate accordingly to compensate for the unfinished budget, most times injuring the government instead of aiding it. Therefore, on Dec. 22, 2018, the U.S. government shutdown out of disagreement for its seventh time and has been the longest shutdown in U.S. history, surpassing 32 days.

    Usually, the president signs a spending bill for the budget that is passed by Congress, which allows funds to be spent on government services and agencies. However, a feud between Donald Trump and the Democrat-led House of Representatives on the finances of the proposed border wall has created a division within the government. The budget bill failed to pass in the president-supporting Senate with a 50-49 vote against the bill, just short of the 60 vote requirement.

  Now, about 800,000 workers for the government have stalled paychecks, which has taken a noticeably-detrimental toll. National parks are no longer protected by rangers, TSA agents working in airports have suddenly called in sick and the White House staff (including chefs) were not present for the meeting with the Clemson Tigers.

  “The feud between the president and the House is like seeing an immovable object collide with an unstoppable force. The House is trying to block him from getting funding for the wall, but Donald Trump will not go back on his statement,” Richard Tanaka (11) said.

  “55 percent of the American people that I align with believe that Donald Trump is at fault, and I would completely agree with that. He even said originally that he would take full responsibility for the government shutdown due to the lack of funding for the wall. But now he has gone back on that statement and is blaming House Democrats,” Cameron Parker (12) said.

  The president publicly said that he would continue the government shutdown until the wall he hoped to build on the Mexican border has funds, which the Democrats are heavily against. This led to heavy debate on the matter, as Donald Trump won’t back down on the cause.

  “I personally think that since Donald Trump has the maturity of a two-year old, that this time, the government shutdown is going to last forever,” Adam Schwab (11) said.

  Donald Trump has proposed incentives for the Democrats in an effort to push for his proposal, starting with reintroducing the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival for three years, which allows some children who illegally entered the border to receive deferred action from deportation. Yet, Democrats are still opposed. With no agreement in sight, extreme lengths will need to be taken to find a solution, not only for the border wall but for the hundreds of thousands of workers affected.