When the U.S. Government issues a “shutdown” all nonessential offices are closed down due to a lack of approval of federal budgets for the upcoming year. Before the presidential election, President Barack Obama led America through a 16-day government shutdown. On Oct. 1, 2013, the government shut down after the Republican and Democratic parties disagreed over legislative funding, finding difficult in a resolution. After a 16-day period, the shutdown was lifted after President Obama signed a bill proposed by Congress to end the shutdown, also avoiding the possibility of reverting to the country’s debt.

On Dec. 14, 2017, Congress approved a spending bill that pushed the threat of a government shutdown until after the holidays. The bill would affect, “…big policy and budget decisions…” until January 2018, when the Senate and House of Representatives would have to bring the issue up once more and create a solution. The bill, labeled as a “continuing resolution”, would keep the government’s pockets full until Jan. 19, 2018.

On Jan. 18, it was announced that the government had shut down, after the Senate missed the Jan. 13 midnight-deadline to avoid the catastrophe. The deadline was assigned to a vote between the Senate and the House of Representatives, as they debated over whether or not to keep the government open until the scheduled Feb. 16, which would allow the government another month to pull itself together. Although the House had pushed for February, the final vote was 50-49.

Shortly after the news broke out, President Trump took to his Twitter platform to complain about the Democratic role in this decision-making process, citing “Democrats are far more concerned with Illegal Immigrants than they are with our great Military or Safety at our dangerous Southern Border. They could have easily made a deal but decided to play Shutdown politics instead. #WeNeedMoreRepublicansIn18 in order to power through mess!”

Since then, many began to blame the Democratic Party for this fiasco. A recording of the White House voicemail states: “Unfortunately, we cannot answer your call today because Congressional Democrats are holding government funding – including funding for our troops and other national security priorities – hostage to an unrelated immigration debate.”

According to an article published on Vox.com, the U.S. Military will continue to operate on schedule — but troops will be missing out on a few of their well-deserved paychecks. Statistically, approximately 290,000 troops will be dispatched through ships, planes, and other transportational methods all throughout the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. Back in 2013, reports showed that due to the two-week suspension, the Pentagon had to cancel around 1500 recruiting events, which ultimately hurt veteran organizations and recruiters. Additionally, the Department of Defense could not afford to aid some families of deceased troops with their financial situations.

On Jan. 22, 2018, Congress provided an update to the 2018 government shutdown: A bill has been passed to President Trump that will keep the government open until Feb. 8. Buzzfeed News reports, “The Senate approved of the spending bill, which also provides six years of funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program, on a vote of 81-18 just before 4:30 p.m. Monday. The House soon followed suit, voting 266-150 to reopen the government for three weeks.”