Donald Trump has shut down the government in an effort to take the federal government hostage in exchange for funding for his racist wall. The longer the shutdown lasts, the more it damages our economy and environment.

• 800,000 federal workers furloughed or working without pay, and many contractors who depend on the federal government will have no restitution for lost wages
• TSA workers are calling sick-outs, making air travel less safe
• National Parks are going unstaffed, leading to overflowing trash cans and toilets in protected areas
• 1,150 federal rent-subsidy contracts with landlords who provide low income housing have expired without money to renew.
• USDA food benefits are already being cut off, with money due to run out before the end of February.
• 50,000 IRS employees are being called back to work without pay, so Trump can lesson the political fallout from his temper tantrum.
• Data releases farmers rely on for crop planting are not being released, damaging agriculture.
• Domestic violence shelters are cutting back on services because their finances are so uncertain.
• Health care services for over one million American Indian and Native Alaskan women has stopped.
• Federal food assistance to 32 million working class women and children could run dry by the end of February.
• The federal government itself even sent a letter to landlords of public housing, where 75% of residents are women, begging them not to evict anyone.

The House and Senate have both passed bipartisan funding bills without Trump’s wall. Mitch McConnell has refused to allow these bipartisan bills to the floor in an effort to avoid embarrassing Donald Trump.

This foolishness must stop. We demand that Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell end the shutdown now.