Trump Warns That the U.S. Government Shutdown May Continue

The President of the United States has warned that the shutdown of parts of the U.S. government, which has now become the longest in history, may continue. On January 22, Donald Trump posted several tweets regarding the federal government shutdown. In one of these posts, the President stated that the shutdown will continue "until the Democrats return from their 'vacation' and get back to work." The House of Representatives and Senate of the United States began their vacation on January 11 and it will continue until next week. The federal government shutdown entered its 22nd day on Saturday, surpassing the previous record set during Bill Clinton's presidency in 1995, thus becoming the "longest" government shutdown in U.S. history. As a result of the shutdown, one-quarter of the federal government, hundreds of thousands of government employees are not receiving paychecks; since 1976, there have been more than 20 instances where there was a gap between the deadline and the approval of the budget, but not all of them resulted in issuing leave for federal employees. Mr. Trump reiterated in his recent tweets what he calls a "widespread humanitarian crisis" at the southern borders of his country with Mexico. However, the Democrats, who currently hold the majority in the House of Representatives, do not agree with the President on building a wall at these borders. Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic Speaker of the House, claims that Trump is trying to divert attention from the Russia investigation and other issues in the White House. Trump, however, states that he has a "plan" to end the government shutdown and that his opponents "must understand that he won the election and promised to ensure the safety of the American people." Building the wall at the Mexican border was one of Trump's main campaign promises. The Democrats have accused Trump of having a confrontational demeanor. Ms. Pelosi has also stated that allocating more than $5 billion for the wall is "useless and a waste of money." Trump has denied claims about his demeanor and says that Democrats can solve the problem "in 15 minutes" by allocating funds for building barriers at the borders. A government shutdown occurs when a federal budget bill or a temporary budget does not get approved by Congress, or when the President refuses to sign such bills for various reasons.