Failure to reach an agreement over Obamacare and the federal budget for the upcoming fiscal year on Oct. 1 has resulted in a Congressional shutdown of the federal government that includes furloughs of “non-essential” government personnel until a budget is passed.
Disconnect between Congressional Democrats and Republicans continues after countless talks have failed to produce a new budget for the upcoming fiscal year.
Congress’ fiscal year runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30, but the appropriations legislation to fund government agencies and operations for the upcoming year has stalled due to Republican opposition to the Affordable Care Act, which is set to go into effect Jan. 1.
A major Congressional concern is the U.S.’ debt ceiling or the amount of money the federal government can borrow. The U.S. is close to meeting its borrowing limit, which is set at $16.699 trillion. President Obama must now ask Congress to raise the amount of money the U.S. is allowed to borrow, something John Boehner and House Republicans refuse to do based on their opposition to Obamacare.
The U.S. is set to default on its debts if the debt ceiling is not raised by Oct. 17.
This is not the first time Congress has quarreled over the debt ceiling. Republicans and Democrats narrowly averted a shutdown in 2011, and a previous shutdown occurred in 1995 during the Clinton administration, lasting 28 days.
The biggest obstacle preventing the passage of a spending bill is the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. The Republican-controlled House continues to pass budgets aimed at defunding the legislation, and each time they are rejected by Senate Democrats who say any bill aimed at defunding the health care plan is an automatic deal-breaker.
Republicans claim the legislation aimed at covering nearly 50 million uninsured Americans will do more harm than good. They argue that the Affordable Care Act will increase health costs and premiums, hurt the quality of health care and add more than $500 billion to the national debt.
Boehner claimed last week that he will not raise the debt ceiling unless moderate spending cuts and program reforms take place.
The shutdown has a mass effect on many government agencies and businesses as many federal employees remain furloughed.
Charity Butcher, a political science professor at KSU, has witnessed some of the consequences.
“One of my good friends is a research manager at the Library of Congress,” Butcher said in an email. “She is on furlough.”
Political Science Professor Ralph Durham said a government shutdown is unacceptable behavior on the part of the country’s elected officials.
“[The shutdown] is based on the idea that the government is somehow the enemy of the people,” Durham said. “It is a terribly unpatriotic way to achieve change.”
Georgia residents are also experiencing the effects of the shutdown. National parks including the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area, the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site and Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park remain closed. The Center for Disease Control in Atlanta remains open with a limited staff. According to a CBS news article, three-fourths of the CDC staff is furloughed.
Social Security, Medicare reimbursements, food stamp programs and the U.S. Postal Office also remain functioning.
Although Georgia’s state government remains operational, an extensive federal shutdown could be unsettling. Moody’s Analytics, an economic research company headquartered in New York, estimates that a three to four- week shutdown will cost the economy about $55 billion.
Despite the conflict between Republicans and Democrats, the two sides have agreed on some issues. Before the shutdown went into effect Oct. 1, legislation passed that continued funding for U.S. military personnel, and on Oct. 5, the House unanimously passed a bill that would provide back pay for furloughed federal workers.
The government remains at a standstill as the pressure on Congress to end the shutdown grows.
Many frustrated Americans continue to observe the situation, hoping for a solution in coming days.
