Political Writing - U.S. Government Shutdown and Its Impact on Americans

This week’s blog will deviate from topics surrounding the United States prospective role in the Syrian conflict to address breaking news affecting Americans in every community.

President Obama announced a possible GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN September 30, 2013 for the first time in 17 years, due to disagreement among Congress concerning America’s deficit. According to Fox News, each year, Congress is supposed to come to an agreement on a dozen appropriation bills to fund federal agencies and set spending priorities and limits. The current Congress hasn't been able and has resorted to stopgap budgets to keep the government going. The last stopgap was passed on March and ended yesterday at 11:59 p.m.

A government shut down will impact and disrupt international and American operations. The President states that Congress wants him to agree to a long list of demands including cutting taxes for the extremely wealthy and gutting the health care law. The issue at hand would be detrimental to the United States’ economic stability. Please see President Obama’s speech below regarding the crisis.

The shutdown will not only affect governmental progress, it will also cause distress to U.S. citizens – from the average person to small-business owners to government employees to veterans to NASA personnel and beyond. The President believes the threat of a shutdown is essentially about the new health care bill, as emphasized in the following news press.

CNN states that Republicans and Democrats couldn't agree on a spending plan for the fiscal year that started Tuesday as they wrangled over Obamacare, leaving federal coffers short, which is what caused the shutdown. CNN also believes the health care law isn't directly tied to funding the government, but it's being used as a bargaining chip. A group of Republicans, led by freshman Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, believe the president's signature domestic policy achievement is so bad for the country that it is worth disrupting government funding to undercut it.

Fox News reports, a prior Republican effort to include a provision defunding Obamacare in the budget bill failed. House Republicans then voted, early Sunday, to add amendments delaying the health care law by one year and repealing an unpopular medical device tax.

“Senate Democrats have made it perfectly clear that they’d rarther shut down the federal government than accept even the most reasonable changes to Obamacare,” Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell countered.

It appears that Obamacare has stimulated the shutdown and Congress members' disposition over spending priorities and limits. Nevertheless The Washington Post cites, “The Affordable Care Act is moving forward. That funding is already in place. You can’t shut it down,” Obama warned Republicans as the final hours before the shutdown deadline ticked away. According to President Obama, Americans will be able to apply for health benefits under the Obamacare program. Citizens seeking such benefits will not be affected even during the government shutdown. Yet, the latest findings across the nation contradicts this information.

Facts

N.J. News headline: Obamacare exchanges: not working as planned

Twitchy US Politics headline: Surprise! Obamacare health insurance exchanges website don’t work; HealthCare.gov a total mess

Yahoo! News headline:  HealthCare.Gov experiences delays on first day

NBC News headline: Obamacare is here and so are the glitches

I concluded with this information because the American public must be in the know. We depend on our government's credibility and expect them to follow through with what has been relayed to us. Those who have supported this plan, looked forward to its impact, and attempted to secure health coverage through Obamacare have fallen victim to government propaganda once again. Now we Americans must all play the game of "wait and see."

Additional reading and related articles:

Fox News – Congress misses deadline, sending government into partial shutdown

Fox News – Here Comes Obamacare & A Government Shutdown

CNN – Government shutdown: What’s closed, what’s open?

CNN – Poll: GOP would bear the brunt of shutdown blame 

USA Today – 66 questions and answers about the government shutdown