Earlier last week, the United States government shutdown. This was due to the fact that the idea of Obamacare was being tossed around and caused a disagreement between Republicans and Democrats on a spending plan for the fiscal year. A fiscal year for the government begins on October 1st and ends on September 30th. Congress needed to decide on the budget before the 1st of October, which they failed to do. The disagreement was that the, “House Republicans insist any new spending bill include provisions to either defund, derail or otherwise chip away at Obamacare. Senate Democrats are just as insistent that it doesn’t.” (CNN) Although Obamacare isn’t directly tied to the country’s budget, politicians are seeing and using it as a bargaining chip. Republicans don’t want Obamacare, so they are holding off on the country’s budget until they get their way. Manipulative and a bit stubborn if you ask me.
The budget needs to get passed because it affects the majority, if not all, of the country. As college students, this would mean that our scholarships and grants would stop being paid. My father is a government worker for national security and although they can’t put him out of work, they can find small reasons to force him into it. For example, my father had a trip to Ireland planned for months for his anniversary. This trip begins this week and since the government shutdown occurred, they revoked his leave/vacation time. Basically stated that if he goes on the trip, he could not return until the government returned to normal operations because it becomes a voluntary furlow at the point. This is complete bull. This shutdown is affecting many families and with our economy as bad as it is, this is completely unnecessary.