Hitting a wall

We salute federal workers, who are still on the job without pay for more than three weeks due to the government shutdown.

The shutdown began in December when President Trump told Congress that he would not approve government spending if it did not include $5 billion for a wall along the American-Mexican border he promised during the election. The Democrats told him no, and the presidents continuous to insist on the funding for the wall, making the government longest shutdown in history.

Most of us live paycheck to paycheck, and it is difficult to keep working and not being able to pay your mortgage, car payments, insurance and loan payments. Some federal workers are trying to find temporary jobs until the standoff is over, according to news reports.

We urge both sides to find a solution and end the shutdown. People have families and need to get paid. It is not fair to treat hardworking Americans like pawns in a poltical power struggle.

The standoff is bigger than building a wall or spending $5 billon. The president is looking for a fight with Democrats and they fell for it.

When the president originally promised to build a wall, he pledged that Mexico would pay for it. The crowd roared. Mexico said no, and President Trump could have asked the mostly Republican congress prior to the recent election to get the funding for his wall.

To be fair to the president, there are some security concerns along America’s southern border, but I am not sure a wall is the solution, and what we have witnessed so far is a belligerent way to address the concerns.

Both the new congress and the president should appoint a special commission to study security along and make recommendations based on its findings. If a wall is a solution, then it will be built.

Also, building a wall along the border is very complicated. Part of the land is privately owned and the government would have to enact imminent domain to get the right to build on the land. This would involve courts, lawyers and a long process of buying the land at fair-market value from its owners to building the wall.

The sad part is that the president is set on a solution based on a campaign promise, and he is holding the nation hostage and we are not sure if it is a good idea. So far, he is hitting a brick wall.