From January 20th to 22nd, the federal government was in partial shutdown because lawmakers in the Senate couldn’t reach a 60 vote agreement to pass a budget for the foreseeable future. Over the past year, the government has only been able to pass monthly budgets due to disagreements on critical yet polarizing issues that face the nation. The two most profound issues are healthcare and immigration. Republicans, who hold a majority in both houses of Congress, were trying to fund the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which provides health coverage for 9 million young children.  Although, Democrats said they wouldn’t agree to any budget without a citizenship plan for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients, which is protection for undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children. Republicans have promised to agree to a deal on the issue, but won’t until Democrats are finally willing to fund a border wall with Mexico. As Trump said in a tweet on January 18, “We need the Wall for the safety and security of our country. We need the Wall to help stop the massive inflow of drugs from Mexico, now rated the one most dangerous country in the world. If there is no Wall, there is no Deal!” The government officially shut down on the 20th, after the bill failed to reach 60 votes to pass in the Senate. After days of intense negotiation, moderate Democrats from Republican states finally caved and a budget was passed without any agreement on DACA. Since the new budget only funds the government for a short amount of time, another shutdown is possible. It’s unlikely an immigration deal will be reached, as both sides are pushing their own agenda and discarding the other.  Many political scientists consider the shutdown to be a key topic in the congressional midterm elections that will be taking place later this year.

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www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/poll-democrats-trump-blame-government-shutdown-n840246

www.cnn.com/2018/01/22/politics/senate-shutdown-vote-congress/index.html

www.nytimes.com/2018/01/22/us/politics/government-shutdown.html