Unnecessary government shutdown needs to end

President Trump has said it would be easy to bring the ongoing federal government shutdown to an end. And he is right. He simply would need to back off his demands for a border wall, the one he promised Mexico would pay for. Instead, the shutdown is now in its 28^th day, the longest in the nation’s history. And the impact of the shutdown is growing. You’ve seen the long lines at the airports where TSA agents are increasingly staying home as they are not getting paid. Some 800,000 federal workers have been furloughed, and have missed at least one paycheck. Even President Trump’s advisors admit the economic impact of the shutdown is greater than anticipated. National parks and museums have shut their doors. The shutdown has meant government contractors aren’t getting paid, housing subsidies have been delayed, and public health inspections of food and environmental hazards have been stopped or slowed. Even craft brewers can’t introduce new beers because the federal agency that regulates them is shut down. And it is about to get worse. If the shutdown continues, food stamp payments could be halted, forcing the 38 million who receive them into even deeper poverty. This shutdown is becoming painful, no longer just some abstraction. It is affecting real people, real lives. All of this over a wall that may, or may not, improve border security. It is time to reopen the federal government and bring this unnecessary shutdown to an end.