On October 1, the United States federal government went into a government shutdown and a large portion of the population couldn’t even tell you why. To help you avoid being part of that uninformed group, Her Campus decided to break down the issue and answer the “stupid” questions to keep you up to speed in terms you can understand.
Why did the government shutdown?
October 1 was the beginning of the government’s new fiscal year. Congress’s job, according to the Constitution, is to pass spending bills before the beginning of the new fiscal year to keep the government operating. If Congress fails to accomplish this, many of the functions of the government come to a standstill. Why didn’t they pass a spending bill? The House Republicans are insisting that any new bill include provisions to defund Obamacare. Democrats are insisting that it doesn’t. Although the healthcare law isn’t directly tied to funding the government, it’s being used as leverage.
What are the arguments for and against Obamacare?
Republicans say that it’ll hurt employers and is an overreach for the federal government. They also say that the medical device tax that is proposed will send jobs overseas. The Democrats believed that the law will expand access to healthcare and help keep costs of coverage down.
Who will stop working?
Whoever is deemed “essential” will continue to work, but that leaves 800,000 government employees who will not work until the government shutdown ends. This means people like park rangers or researchers conducting clinical trials at National Institutes of Health will stop working. USA TODAY estimated that about 41% of non-defense federal employees will not work.
How will this affect you?
Social Security and other social insurances will go on as normal, the military will still protect us, and the mail will continue to come. However, there will be major delays in receiving gun permits, visas, passports, and federal loans. You also won’t be able to attend a National Park anytime soon.
But what about the debt ceiling?
You may have also heard in the news about the cap on the national deficit. In other words, the U.S. is about to max out its $16.699 trillion credit card. On October 17, the date that the Treasury projects we will breach the ceiling, the President will have to ask Congress to raise the country’s limit. CNN reported on Thursday October 10, that he would be open to signing a short-term extension if there were no conservative provisions within it.