Donald Trump using Federal Employees as hostages

The United States has a long-standing policy of not acceding to the demands of hostage-takers. 

An echo opinion published in the Idaho newspaper Post Register

This policy is based on the understanding that yielding to such demands only encourages more hostage taking.

This same logic is applicable to the predicament that Congress is in with regard to our President holding a large fraction of the federal government hostage, demanding $5.7 billion for a border wall. If Congress agreed to pay this ransom in order to reopen the government, this highly damaging tactic will have been rewarded and future use of it encouraged.

This is not just political theater. Hundreds of thousands of federal workers directly paid a heavy price, workers for government contractors paid an even higher price and millions of other citizens were being affected increasingly with every passing day.

Congress and citizens should repudiate such callous behavior by the president. Now that our government is reopened, a democratic process free of intimidation can take place to develop fact-based, effective and efficient steps to improve border security.

Bob Schaefer   Idaho Falls