At midnight on Friday 19th, the government shut down. What does this mean for high school students and how did it happen?

A government shutdown occurs when Congress fails to pass and/or the President fails to sign appropriations: legislation funding government operations and agencies. The conflict of this shutdown had to do with DACA or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

Democrats tried to use the Friday deadline to win concessions for DACA. President Trump and other Republicans wanted funds in return to help finance the construction of a wall on our southern border. The Democrats then offered $2 billion.

The offer was refused because of the estimated cost of the wall being $66.9 billion. Senate Republicans and President Trump proposed a 4 week extinction and the Senate minority leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi along with the rest of their house turned it down. Thus the government was shut down. Don't worry too much though because yesterday President Trump signed a bill to end the government shutdown and it was passed by congress.

Now how do government shutdowns affect students in high school? Fortunately it doesn't affect us that much. Back in the shutdown of 2013, you couldn't visit certain parks, active military didn't get paid, and a large number of government employees were furloughed. Except the shutdown in 2013 lasted longer than the one we had over the weekend.

All in all, the government shutdown did not affect high school students or the American population much at all. The real effects of this shutdown had more to do with policies like DACA and the funding for a wall at our border rather than the common person.