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Source: Valley Morning Star, Harlingen, TexasOct.儲存 18--HARLINGEN -- Area residents are expressing anger, disgust and disappointment over the federal government shutdown and the way Congress behaved during the impasse.Jasmine Perez, 22, of San Benito, said she has strong feelings on the subject."The whole government shutdown is just a temper tantrum," she said. "It's so selfish."Stacy Barton, 71, of Harlingen, said there should be a law that cancels checks for lawmakers every time the government shuts down. But that won't solve the problem, Barton said."We need to initiate a spirit of cooperation for the benefit of the American public," Barton said. "It's a grassroots movement that needs to be done by the people."Arnold Burkholder works six days a week and attends school full-time, so on his day off he does what he loves most: fishing. However, when he drove up to Adolph Thomae Jr. County Park to launch his boat recently, he was more than a little upset to find it closed because of the government shutdown."I think it's kind of dumb for them to shut down the parks," said Burkholder, 22, of Harlingen. "In the end, it's hurting the economy."While Danny Hoehne, a former Washington, D.C., police officer now living in Harlingen, considers himself pretty politically savvy, he said he was confused by the whole situation."I have tried to follow it, but I can't make heads or tails of it," Hoehne, 63, said.The Alexandria, Va., native now serves as president of the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival. He said that as a Washington, D.C., police officer he would have had to turn away visitors from national monuments that were closed because of the shutdown."I would not like to be the one telling veterans you can't go in here," he said.He strongly disagreed with the 21-hour filibuster by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, to protest the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare.Hoehne said he believed that Cruz had a very narrow interest."It was a show of conservatism lacking the big picture," he said, adding that the big picture was "compromise."He said that both Democrats and Republicans shared responsibility in the shutdown. Although he considers himself a Republican, the Republicans behaved badly, he said."The Republicans have a heavy hand in it,"迷你倉he said. "It's a serious divide. Trying to keep up with things like this one has me stumped. I think it was an epic battle within the Beltway that nobody will remember in four months." The Beltway refers to the area around Washington, D.C., and also to matters involving officials of the U.S. government.Other residents have similar feelings about Cruz's filibuster."If it's just talk and talk and not making anything out of it. It's not going to accomplish anything," said Pat Lopez, 46.Burkholder said people are saying that Republicans had held the U.S. hostage."They wanted to get their own way," he said. "That's why it was shut down, because they couldn't agree. As far as wanting to help the American people, they need to stop what they are doing and start doing something that works. Because this stuff costs a lot of money."Estella Vasquez, 65, said that, although her husband works for the federal government and hadn't been paid in three weeks, they hadn't felt the pinch too much."At our age, we are OK," she said. "We don't have a house payment. I know it will affect a lot of younger people not being able to pay their mortgage."How did she feel about the behavior of Congress during the shutdown?"Don't even go there," she said strongly.The behavior of the lawmakers was "typical" said Carrie Leka, 50, of La Feria."It seems that they do that to get everybody in an uproar," she said. "Everybody's against each other. They don't want to listen to each other."Leka declined to say whether she is a Republican or a Democrat."Honestly, I don't vote because of this situation," she said. "They don't agree. They are for the people. What people? We are the people. They are just not working for us."Although the government is open again for the moment, it's only a temporary measure that will only last until early next year. There is still much to be done, said Carlos Quintanilla, 50, of San Benito."It's not settled," he said. "I think they should make a conclusion and see if they can settle it. There's a lot of people that are hurting."twhitehead@valleystar.comCopyright: ___ (c)2013 Valley Morning Star (Harlingen, Texas) Visit Valley Morning Star (Harlingen, Texas) at .valleymorningstar.com Distributed by MCT Information Servicesself storage