Blog 3.3- Alec Mueller

1. What action (or lack of action) caused the government shut down?
The most basic reason for the shutdown is that the government gets funded by laws that have to go through Congress — and this time, Congress failed to pass a new government funding law before the old one expired.

2. In a shutdown, which government functions continue? Which ones stop?
The entire federal government certainly doesn’t shut down. Military and law enforcement activities continue. Social Security checks still go out. Air traffic controllers still go to work. Activities the government has deemed “nonessential” stop, and employees tasked with those activities are furloughed.

3. How were Democrats able to force Republicans to address the DACA issue?
One obvious point of potential leverage over Republicans is that Democratic votes are needed to fund the government. So these activists argued that Democrats shouldn’t vote for any government funding bill without a DACA deal.

4. Why were some Democrats eager to end the shut down so quickly?
The Democratic worry was that keeping the government shut down on behalf of unauthorized immigrants — even the DREAMers — is a political loser. Furthermore, many Democratic senators are facing tough reelections in red states this year and fear being tagged as extremists. Meanwhile, Republicans worry that since Trump is president and their party controls Congress, they’ll be blamed for the shutdown and deemed incompetent.

5. In the funding agreement, what changes were made to Children's Health Insurance Program?
the beneficiaries of the Children’s Health Insurance Program, whose funding will be safe for the next six years, secured a long-term win.

6. What promises did Democrats get from the Senate Majority Leader?
Yes, Democrats caved, agreeing to reopen the government for another three weeks based on handshake assurances from Mitch McConnell for a vote on some sort of bill to address their status.
7. Why was this shutdown seen as a "loss" for Democrats?
Yet though Democrats’ policy hopes are still alive on DACA, the aborted shutdown fight still may have done a fair amount of damage to the party internally. Not because of any pundit spin, but because of sounds of disappointment from base voters and activists.

8. Why was this shutdown seen as a "win" for President Trump?
For now, he got his government reopened without giving away the store. And Republican members of Congress and commentators generally appear to be far happier about how the shutdown weekend went than Democrats are.

9.  What % of Democrats blame President Trump for the shut down?
62%

10. What % of Republicans blame Democrats for the shut down?
85%

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