While I am happy the government reopened, I am conflicted because people’s healthcare premiums will increase at the end of this year. While people can criticize the Democrats for using the government shutdown as a way to make the Republicans extend the ACA tax benefits, the Republican Party has not released any plans to make healthcare more affordable yet. President Trump even admitted that he is only going to support or approve sending money directly to the people themselves. Overall, even though the Democratic Party agreed to the current resolution, a pinky promise to vote on extending the ACA tax credits in the Senate does not mean that Speaker Mike Johnson is going to bring it to the House floor for a vote. 

–Matthew Gee

This shutdown only proves one thing: Trump is willing to put the American people at risk to get his way. I genuinely do not understand why the government was put in shut down to negotiate SNAP and why hundreds of thousands of federal workers had to work without pay. The deals could have been negotiated behind closed doors and everyone wouldn’t have been impacted by this. To make it a bit personal, I was scheduled to receive money from Americorps to fund my education. It was a bit late, so I called and they said that because of the shutdown, they weren’t sure when I would receive that money. It eventually came in, but what if it didn’t? I would have had to pay from my own pocket because Trump would rather withhold money than use it. 

—Chandler