By: Ulysses Altamirano

OwlFeed Journalist

After the midterm elections states reported an increase in voter turnout among the young population of this country. Despite this being a categorized as a success in the House of Representatives for Democrats, there is still a lot of conflict as the Senate was seen as a victory for Republicans.

Earlier this week in a meeting with congresswoman Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Chuck Schumer, president Donald Trump said he would be “proud to shutdown the government…” if Democrats don’t agree to pass a measure for border security, that

would result in $5 billion going into funding for the wall at the border with Mexico. Both Democrats and Republicans agree there should be more funding for border security, however, the GOP is pushing for the allocation of funding towards building the wall, as Democrats want to see funding to have better infrastructure for border agents.

A poll conducted this week by NPR/PBS NewsHour said that 57% of Americans believe that Trump should come to a compromise on the border wall to prevent a government shutdown and gridlock among Democrats and Republicans, 36% of Americans believe that Trump should not compromise at all for the border wall even if it means a government shutdown.

Although president Trump seems to be in favor of a government shutdown, not all Republicans agree with his statement. Mitch McConnell, the Senate Majority Leader, said that he wished that a partial shutdown of the government can be avoided.

The effects of a government shutdown can be detrimental for both parties, a shutdown would mean that the nonessential offices of the government close because of the lack of approval of funding for the fiscal year, as in this case it’s with funding $5 billion to build the wall. These nonessential offices may mean passports cannot be validated, visas cannot be processed, or that a national monument will remain closed until the government agrees to find compromise.

Nevertheless, both major political parties must meet and find common ground to serve their constituents and agree on a measure that would allow for border security. As Democrats will take control of the house next year it is expected that the bipartisanship relations between the left and the right must exponentially increase in order to avoid more shutdowns.