Steny Hoyer launches website to gather public sentiment on the shutdown
Majority Leader Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., wants to know what the American people think about the ongoing government shutdown, so he’s launched a website.
TrumpShutdownStories.us, which is powered by the civic engagement platform POPVOX, is “dedicated to ensuring that Americans who are affected by the Trump shutdown are heard.” Specifically, Hoyer wants answers to one question: “Do you support funding bills that were passed by the House to reopen government and end the Trump shutdown?” The site allows users to “support” or “oppose” this statement, and add a personalized explanation for why.
“This new website will allow those who are impacted by the Trump shutdown to share their story with the public, and it will ensure those stories are shared with Members of Congress,” Rep. Hoyer said in a statement. “We will lift up the stories of those affected to make clear to President Trump and Congressional Republicans the negative impact they are having on Americans as they continue to hold the government hostage.”
The site displays “real-time” national sentiment — a graph and a map showing the distribution of people who “support” the funding bills the House has passed versus those who “oppose.” As of press time, only a handful of people had weighed in so far.
But stories about how the ongoing government shutdown, now in its fourth week, is impacting federal workers have been flooding the news. Around 800,000 federal employees are currently out of a job, and there doesn’t seem to be an obvious end in sight. In the absence of a paycheck, private businesses and charities are stepping in to help workers impacted by the shutdown in various ways — from restaurant discounts to free drinks to donated food and beyond.
