President Trump’s efforts to build a southern border wall and the newly turned Democratic House of Representatives only increased Congress’s disagreement with President Trump’s views on border security. Trump reasons that it is needed to slow illegal immigration and drugs from entering the United States, but many of the Democrats of Congress reason that the wall is too expensive at $5.7 billion, only for the first phase.

“I don’t know why they didn’t try to pass the border wall when Republicans had control of the house,” said government teacher Darcy Pohl.

Trump and Congress agreed on a temporary resolve on Jan. 25, ending the 35-day shutdown. Before, the longest shutdown was 21 days long. The resolve did not include a deal over the border wall, and it will only last until Feb. 15. As a result of the resolve, over 800,000 federal employees will receive their back pay.

“I think other government shutdowns have been larger in terms of the Department of Defense being affected,” said history teacher Erika Connolly.   

The only branch of the military that was directly affected by the shutdown was the Coast Guard, as they serve under the Department of Homeland Security.

“Because of the shutdown, I’m unable to go to the recruiting center and haven’t been for about a month,” said senior and aspiring Coast Guardsman Jackson Rehfuss. “The shutdown is pushing back my goals for the future.”

Some federal employees protested against the shutdown, and others even sued the federal government on the basis of the 13th Amendment.

“Because of the people working and not getting paid, it had an impact on productivity and GDP,” said marketing and economics teacher Jim Cartwright.