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Buffalonians react to federal government temporarily reopening

npr.org

Buffalo residents are reacting to President Trump’s announcement of a temporary deal to restore operations of the federal government.

The agreement will put many federal agencies back in business, as well as resume paying the 800,000 furloughed and unpaid federal workers who have been affected by the shutdown.

As for the back-pay owed to federal workers, that still remains unclear. Congress passed a bill authorizing back-payment, and President Trump in his Rose Garden address said that he “will make sure that all employees receive their back pay very quickly or as soon as possible.”

WBFO caught up with several locals to get their reaction to the news. One, Chris Maucere, was happy to see the President step up to end the shutdown.

“The whole thing was ridiculous. I think there was a little bit of posturing on both sides,” said Maucere. “I am surprised that he [Trump] did it actually, and I’m glad he did it because I feel for the people working without pay.”

While this deal will put federal workers back to work and with a paycheck in their hands for three weeks, it does not include funding for the President’s border wall.

This is a shift for President Trump, who previously made the $5.7 billion in wall funding a prerequisite to re-open the government. Democrats have remained adamant that they will not fund a border wall, instead opting for increased funding for general border security.  

Brian Dabee said that political divide he sees, is one reason why he thinks this re-opening will just remain temporary.

“The country is more polarized than I’ve ever seen it before, I mean it’s bad,” said Dabee. “It’s all about politics now a days, that’s it. It’s just very narrow-minded.”

While talks between lawmakers continue, John Craik of Buffalo feels like many. He’s glad furloughed and unpaid workers will be getting a paycheck, but is also pessimistic about where politicians in D.C. go from here.   

“The first response is good for them [federal workers],” said Craik. “The second piece is let’s hope now that the government can work out and compromise and come up with a deal for whatever they need to come up with.”

President Trump’s Rose Garden announcement comes on the heels of two separate failed Senate bills to reopen the federal government that were called in to vote Thursday.

One was a Trump-backed Republican bill that included $5.7 billion in border wall funding and protections for some undocumented immigrants, while the Democrats bill was a no-strings attached bill.  

Nick Lippa leads our Arts & Culture Coverage, and is also the lead reporter for the station's Mental Health Initiative, profiling the struggles and triumphs of those who battle mental health issues and the related stigma that can come from it.
Ryan Zunner joined WBFO in the summer of 2018 as an intern, before working his way up to reporter the following summer.
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