On Dec. 22 the U.S government announced that the government was going into a temporary shut down over the debate of building President Trump’s wall on the Mexico border. Since negotiations were taking too long to be completed, leaders chose to close the government. This means for thirty five days over 800,000 government workers were left without pay. It seems as though Congress did not stop to analyze the effects this had on workers both financially and socially. While congress members were getting paid, parents and families were left to fend for themselves. The government couldn’t act like grown adults and this childish game went on for far too long. Our leaders were too focused on their egos and personal agendas to realize the complexity of this nation-wide issue.

A detrimental impact was lowered airport security. During the shutdown, the number of people working for TSA decreased by 33%. Since these employees were not receiving pay, many called in sick or chose to not come to work. This added to longer lines and less protection for our country. In the world we live in, everyone, and most importantly our leaders should understand that basic idea of safety. It’s ironic to me that we can shut the government down over “security”, but will take no care about the security of our airports. Our president was so concerned about building a wall to protect the United States that he completely forgot to take a concern about our airport security. I have a parent who works as a flight attendant. This means my mom went through security every single day with workers who were doing a bad job because they were not being paid and simply did not care. In addition to airport security, the National Parks were left without protection, resulting in vandalism and large trash compiling.

Furthermore, all food inspection came to a halt as they too work for the government. According to the New York Times, “While the Agriculture Department is still inspecting meat, poultry, eggs, grain and other commodities, the Food and Drug Administration has stopped its routine inspections of seafood, fruits, vegetables and other foods at high risk of contamination.” This reveals that the American people were at risk for major health concerns because our leaders did not care enough to come up with an efficient solution. The government justified this nonsense, by “guaranteeing back pay”, while they are sitting on a comfortable salary. It’s utterly ridiculous that families, and Americans had to work without pay.

How is it ethical, moral, or okay in any form to send people to work without pay? As leaders, the government has a responsibility to step up and to represent the people of this great country. I love the United States with my entire heart, and it hurts to know our leaders did not stop to take a care for the people they lead. WE need to do better. WE need to ensure this nonsense never happens again.