The longest government shutdown has finally ended… temporarily. Starting on December 22nd of 2018, the government shutdown, which lasted until January 25th, 2019. Why did the government shut down in the first place, you may ask? The infamous and quite expensive wall. The wall costs approximately 5 billion dollars to build, and will place a distinct border between Mexico and America in order to prevent illegal immigration. Being the longest government shutdown of all U.S history, activities that directly affect citizens were put off to a frozen position. The FDA seized the inspection of food, government officials did not attend their jobs, federal agencies were not running, government workers did not get paid, and national parks were temporarily closed.

Soon enough, 35 days passed and Donald Trump agrees to finally open the government again… For only a few weeks. If there is no conclusion to the decision of spending over 5 billion dollars for the Mexican-American border wall, the government shutdown again on February 15th, 2019.

Our students of North Providence High School have some opinions on what happened regarding the government shutdown. Many are uneducated on the topic, while many are fully aware as to what exactly happened. Most students that I interviewed were fairly upset with the government shutdown. Supporters of president Donald Trump or not, many students were unhappy with the main idea that all federal agencies were not running, which may have limited themselves, their friends or family. Others were understanding of why the government was shut down, and were in full support of getting things done, despite the controversies.