I have known several US government workers who describe these shutdowns as a "free vacation". It's also a partial shutdown where many "essential" agencies are s

I have known several US government workers who describe these shutdowns as a "free vacation". It's also a partial shutdown where many "essential" agencies are still operating (most of Department of Homeland Security), others are funded separately (Department of Veteran's Affairs), and some have already recieved new funding (US Coast Guard). Also worth noting is many government contractors are on fully funded contracts, meaning many are operating in the same fashion as they would during the week of Christmas (i.e., keep the lights on while most Federal employees are out). Basically this is a tolerable situation for what I would characterize as half of US government workers so far, regardless of where they fall on the border wall issue, and especially considering legislation has been passed this week to give government workers back-pay (e.g. the "free vacation" sentiment). Now that a whole pay period has passed, the situation will become more tense & I expect a change to occur soon. I hope Democrats make a deal with Trump, in which case Democrats win something (like real DACA legislation), Trump wins funding authorized for more border walls (less than what Democrats authorized several years ago for similar ones), and the government opens back up. The alternative is Democrats win nothing, Trump wins athority over many more billions of dollars via the national emergency route, and the governemnt opens back up - DACA later becomes an unsolved issue when the Supreme Court (likley) strikes it down.