When the United States government shut down on December 22, 2018, it was due to a lack of agreement between lawmakers on a crucial issue: funding for a proposed wall along the southern border.
President Donald Trump had promised during his campaign to build a wall to curb illegal immigration, and he had requested $5 billion from Congress to make that promise a reality. However, Democrats were unwilling to provide that amount of funding, citing concerns over the effectiveness of a wall and wanting to allocate funds to other border security measures.
The shutdown, which lasted for a record-breaking 35 days, was the longest in U.S. history. During that time, approximately 800,000 federal workers were either furloughed or forced to work without pay, causing financial strain for many families across the country.
While the border wall funding was the main issue at the heart of the shutdown, there were also other disagreements between Republicans and Democrats on funding for other government agencies and programs. Democrats wanted funding for environmental protection and infrastructure projects while Republicans wanted to increase funding for the military and immigration enforcement.
Ultimately, the shutdown ended on January 25, 2019, when Trump signed a bill that reopened the government for three weeks while negotiations continued. However, the government was soon threatened with another shutdown when the three-week period ended and no agreement had been reached on border wall funding. This time, a compromise was reached, with Congress agreeing to allocate $1.4 billion for border security measures, but not for a wall.
The 2018-2019 government shutdown highlighted the deep political divisions in the United States and the difficulty in reaching agreements on controversial issues. As a professional, it`s important to understand and report on the complex political and social issues that arise in our country and affect our readers.
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