When the government first shut down, what were lawmakers having trouble reaching an agreement about?

Their argument was on the budget.
The main cause that become a hindrance for a  law to be passed is the budget.
The congress often not agree on which budget allocation they need to prioritize when considering a bill. For example, Congress from Republican party tend to favor to allocate the budget for military while the one from Democratic party tend want to spend it on government programs.

Americans often speak of their country as one of several large regions.  these regions are cultural units rather than governmental units --  formed by history and geography and shaped by the economics, literature and folkways that all the parts of a region share. what makes one region different from another? a region's multicultural heritage as well as distinct demographic characteristics like age and occupation make regions different and special. within several regions, language is used differently and there are strong dialects. there are also differences in outlook and attitude based on geography.