It is highly speculated that the US government will shut down at midnight on Tuesday, October 1st. The United States Congress will come to a complete halt if Congress members do not pass spending bills that give money to the government in time. There is much debate in Congress over passing the spending bill because the House of Representatives is primarily Republican while the Senate is Democratic, this of course leads to a stalemate. The major issue has to do with Obamacare: President Obama’s national healthcare system that is formally titled “The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.” The House wants the bill to clearly state that funds will be cut from Obamacare and the Senate objects to that request. Republicans argue that the act will further hurt businesses and private employers and send jobs overseas because the act requires every US citizen to have health insurance.
Since 1977, there have been 17 government shutdowns in America, the latest one took place in 1995 and lasted 21 days. During the shutdown, many government officials will be sent home without pay, however there are many officials that will stay working, if it is deemed necessary. 3.3 million government employees will still be heading to work once the government shuts down, but 783,000 employees will be asked to not come to work. Congress, the President, and many other people will still be receiving a paycheck while basically nothing gets done. The U.S. Postal Service will still be functioning, however all National Parks will be closed, getting a passport will soon be quite a difficult task, and the District of Columbia may lose municipal workers and trash may soon be covering the streets of the nation’s capitol.
There’s also another major issue to consider; the debt ceiling will need to be dealt with by October 17th, and as of now the country needs to figure out how to pay back 17 trillion dollars. If the House and Senate do not agree upon the budget shortly, the economy will take a hit.
Hopefully, the Democratic Senate and the Republican House can come together and make some compromises over Obamacare before the government is shutdown for too long.
Sources:
http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/30/politics/government-shutdown-up-to-speed/index.html?hpt=hp_t1