For the US Government, September 30 represents the end of the financial year, and as such congress is required to create and decide on a budget for the new fiscal year by October 1. It can be thought of as a law that both the Senate and the House of Representatives must agree upon— however, last month, it was very quickly apparent that no such agreement was going to be made in time for the deadline.
The Affordable Care Act, more commonly referred to as Obamacare, was the main sticking point that caused the unfortunate disagreement between the two groups. Since the House of Representatives is comprised primarily by Republicans, and the Senate by Democrats, the budget essentially became their battle ground over the implementation of Obamacare.
Since the beginning of 2013, it was clear that the Republicans were not going to allow Obamacare to pass without a fight. Despite already being declared constitutional by the Supreme Court, over thirty failed repeal efforts from the Republican party, and Obama’s re-election for his second term as President, plans to defund Obamacare were in constant circulation. Texan Republican Senator John Cornyn is quoted in January with the ominous premonition: “It may be necessary to partially shut down the government in order to secure the long-term fiscal well being of our country, rather than plod along the path of Greece, Italy and Spain.”
When September rolled around, and budget plans were already clearly on a path for disaster, Republican Senators from multiple states demanded a repeal or change in the Affordable Care Act if the budget was to pass, with Texan Senator Ted Cruz even giving a 21-hour speech to the Senate to solidify his professional opinion on the matter. As the beginning of the fiscal year drew nigh, Republicans repeatedly proposed temporary government funding until December, so long as Obamacare was omitted from the plans, clearly reflecting their hopes of continually delaying its implementation. However, the Senate continued to refuse these offers, and the President himself threatened to veto any proposed bill that would delay the Affordable Care Act’s implementation.
The burning question then becomes just why exactly the Republicans were so adamant about rejecting Obamacare. A one-dimensional analysis of the situation could tag the problem as Republicans merely wishing to disagree with any idea headed by the Democratic Party, regardless of its possible merits or benefits. Of course, members of the party provide a few common answers as to the true ‘dangers’ that they see in Obamacare. They believe that a reformation of health care will negatively affect the economy, claiming that it is not economically viable and poses threats of job loss, unnecessary rising of taxes, and an even bigger governmental deficit.
However, many critics not only debunk these threats, but argue that what the GOP truly finds frightening is what will happen when the public realizes the true benefits of Obamacare, and thus may change the voting positions on the potential millions of American citizens who will see great life improvements through the improvement in health care— previous votes for the GOP may find themselves redirected to the Democratic Party. In addition, recently conducted polls show a significant opinion of approval from Americans towards the benefits and specifics of Obamacare— but notably when it was referred to by its formal name, and not the unofficial one.
On October 16, the governmental shutdown finally came to an end, after a multitude of meetings and negotiations between the two parties’ members. In the end, despite all of the effort on the part of the Republicans, the Affordable Care Act was neither defunded, nor delayed in the budget; the only amendment that came about was a requirement to carry out more thorough income checks for people registering for insurance exchanges. The bill passed was a temporary one, which will fund the government until the 15 of January, 2014, and will raise the looming debt ceiling until the 7 of February.
The effects of the following shutdown were nothing to overlook— 800 000 governmental employees in non-essential sectors, such as NASA, national parks, and tourist attractions, were relieved of duty without pay, taking on a “furloughed” status, and another 1.3 million working in essential sectors, such as mail delivery, military workers, and tax collectors, were required to work without any promise of pay in sight. Fortunately, all furloughed and unpaid workers were arranged to receive payment after the end of the shutdown. The potential effects it had on the public support for the GOP has yet to be seen.
All that remains now is to wait until next January, at the end of the temporary bill’s lifetime. Obama himself has expressed no worry that the process repeating itself all over again— unfortunately, many reporters (and much of the public) are not as optimistic.
Leave a Reply