Letters: Readers look past the 35-day federal gov’t shutdown

Your Jan. 26 editorial about the end of the partial federal shutdown was titled “The President won nothing.” What a childish editorial. What did the people win? Our border security is a joke. Democrats supported the needed wall multiple times in the past, but wouldn’t this time to score cheap political points.

Our president losing a sophomoric battle with Democrats is nothing to celebrate. We need border security, not a childish House of Representatives looking for political points.

William Mahoney, Levittown

It is wrong to consider the shutdown resolution either a cave-in for one side or a win for the other. It trivializes government and reduces its functions to a political game.

Real people, federal workers, were held hostage for more than a month to President Donald Trump’s hope of fulfilling a campaign promise, real people who worried about paying their bills, who made difficult choices about food or medicine because the president wanted to please his followers.

Decisions that affect our nation cannot be made solely to appeal to a narrow base, particularly one insisting on a “big, beautiful wall” to make its candidate look like a man. Governance by tantrum is not democracy and neither is one-upmanship.

Hopefully, the real work can now begin with a robust discussion of border security based on facts rather than whims. The American people need each side seeking a win for the country rather than a win for themselves or a loss for the other side.

Lisa Castillo, New Hyde Park

Democrats said that if the president opened the government, they would negotiate [“Open, for now,” News, Jan. 26]. President Trump knew that if he did so, he would lose all leverage in getting the very necessary wall. Wisely, he took them up on it, but with only a temporary opening of the government.

Now the ball is in the court of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. But I believe they will not negotiate in good faith, so the onus of the next shutdown will be on them. The president will get the wall despite the unpatriotic, political machinations of Pelosi and Schumer.

Milton Brody, Roslyn Heights

To say “The president won nothing” is so wrong! He achieved another great victory on his sole quest to create havoc, stir up hate, confusion, fear, distrust and to undermine our precious, fragile, democratic way of life.

When will our constitutional checks and balances say enough and save our beloved country?

John Wolf, Levittown

We the people are so sick of the politicians and government shutdowns. Both sides of the aisle are at fault. Here are three things the people should push for:

• Stop paying members of the House of Representatives and Senate during a shutdown, but continue government worker pay. The politicians have no incentive to stop shutdowns because there is no risk for them.
• Enact term limits for members of the House and Senate. They should serve and leave.
• Bar politicians from lobbying for five years after they leave office. This will help limit their influence on the system.

Call your senators or representative and demand their help.

Stephen Cella, Oakdale

Come November 2020, Donald Trump and his enablers would like to think that we will forget all about the government shutdown that he was “proud” to own. Don’t forget. Do you think Trump had any sympathy for government workers without paychecks? He’s built a career without fully paying his contractors and vendors. Don’t forget his shutdown when 2020 comes.

Mark Brady, Dix Hills

Hats off to Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) for sponsoring a bill that would end the practice of shutting down the government as a bargaining tool in passing a federal budget [“Schumer to Trump: Speed up back pay,” News, Jan. 28].

Under this bill, if the president does not sign a new budget on time, last year’s budget would automatically roll over into the new year and the government would continue to function. It’s about time that we stop using our federal workers as pawns and hostages to dysfunctional government.

Tom DiPasquale, Smithtown

The last immigrant caravan from Central America was stopped not by technology, but by a wall at the Mexico border and the U.S. Border Patrol. That wall, which Speaker Nancy Pelosi calls immoral, sits in California, her home state.

Technology has its place in telling you that someone already has crossed the border, but it’s not going to stop them. The answer is a wall, or a barrier supported by technology and more Border Patrol agents.

Fix the immigration law. People who cross the border illegally should not be able to apply for asylum. They should walk up to a border checkpoint and make their request there.

Robert Bittner, Cutchogue