...after the Shutdown of the United States Government

The United States (US) Federal Government reopened on Tuesday after a brief shutdown from the lack of funding brought to wrought by a budget impasse between Congressional Republicans and Democrats.

While the White House, Republicans and Democrats have blamed each other for the shutdown, it remains a fact that a deeply partisan divide hovers over Washington, DC, which, if left unchecked, will continue to plague the traditional daily operations of the Federal government and contribute to the general insecurity of the Republic.

Though the parties to the negotiations to fund the government have pledged to work together to produce a long term budget for the nation by February 8, the reliance on continued resolutions to keep the government funded, is certainly not a good fiscal tool. A long term spending bill has to be adopted that among other things would deliver a long term budget to the Department of Defense in order to insure the preservation of national security and good morale among troops who work tirelessly to protect the security of the Republic.

With regards to the brief shutdown, Democrats erred on insisting that a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) deal be included in the budget negotiations. Republicans and the White House also erred in adopting the staunch right wing attitude that the status and the protection of hundreds of thousands of Dreamers are not important enough to merit immediate action.

Thus, after the shut down, Congress should keep the pledge to work together across party lines to expedite the status and protection of Dreamers. Congress should also formulate a long term spending bill instead of relying on stop-gap funding deals for the operations of the US government.