On October 1, 2013 the government began its first partial shutdown in 17 years. The shutdown is the result of Congress failing to pass a budget. The House voted on a bill to delay Obamacare for one year however, the Senate rejected the negotiation. The government cannot operate without a budget.
Of course, Republicans are being blamed for the entire debacle. But we must look deeper into what’s happening. To be clear, the House only rejected Obamacare funding within the budget. Obamacare will raise the debt ceiling, which is something President Obama promised not to do. Republicans want to prevent anything from raising the debt ceiling. With an attempt to negotiate with the Senate, House Republicans attached language to a government funding bill that would delay the mandate that individuals obtain health insurance and would force members of Congress, their staffs and White House staff members to buy their health insurance on the new exchanges without any government subsidies (Peters and Weisman, NY Times). The Senate has rejected multiple negotiation bills from the House because they are unwilling to compromise. President Obama’s remarks on the budget impasse, “There will be no negotiations over this.”
The Senate has also opposed House bills to fund national parks and veteran’s affairs, and the Smithsonian Institute during the shutdown. The Senate and President are rejecting negotiation with the House in hopes of fully funding Obamacare. While many are opposed to the government shutdown, some fellow Republicans are as well; New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said, “While there’s blame to go around for the Republicans in the House for not coming to consensus even amongst themselves … and the Democrats in the Senate for not looking for ways to try to compromise with the Republicans in the House, there’s also blame that goes onto the president as well,” (Taylor, NBC News). Though Republicans are attempting to put an end to the shutdown, Democrats and the President are not open to compromise.
Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid is basically bashing the House Republicans non-stop and is claiming that the Democrats are being “bullied”. Harry Reid isn’t the only one smearing the reputation of the Republican Party. The media has been rather negative in regards to the “reckless Republican shutdown in Washington” (shocking, I know). Headlines such as, “Congressional Republicans are in danger of morphing into the anti-Obamacare party rather than one devoted to fiscal conservatism and cutting out-of-control federal spending” (Everett and Kim, POLITICO), and even tweets wishing that Republicans, including Ted Cruz, were shot at the Capitol during the Capitol Hill Lockdown (Twitchy). The media is clearly portraying a liberal bias which is brainwashing Americans into believing that Republicans are at fault for the government shutdown.
Neither Party nor President Obama wants to take blame for the controversy taking place currently. However, I think the Democrats and Obama have made themselves clear; they do not want to negotiate. This unwillingness, in my opinion, shines light on the failure of the Senate and the President. Personally, I believe President Obama is the one to blame. Instead of unifying Congress and showing concern for America, he is campaigning for his budget bill and criticizing the House. President Obama lacks the ability to take responsibility for his actions. The government shutdown is one more failure the president can add to his list.
Whether we accept it or not neither, Democrats, Republicans, nor President Obama would like to see the government emerge from this shutdown as quickly as possible. There are clear negative consequences as a result to the shutdown. A decision has to be made at some point, rather sooner than later. This decision will be made once both parties and the president decide to cooperate.
“Save us from the madness. Deliver us from the hypocrisy of attempting to sound reasonable while being unreasonable. Remove the burdens of those who are the collateral damage of this government shutdown, transforming negatives into positives.”— Senate Chaplain Barry Black, opening prayer on the Senate floor as quoted by POLITICO, Oct. 3, 2013.
On a lighter note, if you’d like to see a hilarious YouTube video pertaining to the government shutdown, check out this Saturday Night Live spoof, “We Did Stop (the government)” featuring Miley Cyrus! IT’S A MUST SEE!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ik1bdoufPt0
Additional Sources:
Government Shutdown Begins as Deadlocked Congress Flails – Bloomberg
House rejects restoration of funds during shutdown for veterans, parks – Washington Times
On the road again: Amid stalemate, Obama campaigns for budget bill | Fox News
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