2013 Government Shutdown

A federal government shutdown is when Congress fails to pass necessary spending legislation for government operations. With the separation of powers we have in the US, both the Senate and House must pass an agreed upon budget before it goes to the President to be signed into law. Government shutdowns usually are the result of the President and one or both houses being unable to move past disagreements over budget allocation prior to the budget cycle that runs from October 1st to September 30th (Morone). This current shutdown is being driven by multiple factors, the biggest of which is strong disagreement between the President and the Republican-controlled House of Representatives over Obama’s Affordable Care Act and House budget bills that include provisions that delay or defund “Obamacare”. Because government couldn’t come to an agreement, an estimated 800,000 government employees will be laid-off without pay across the hundreds of “non-essential” government programs that include the likes of national parks, landmarks and museums. Having strong feelings about what it means to be an American and to have to work hard for something you want, I think this shut down is somewhat necessary. People are acting as if this is the first shutdown our government has ever had. Ford, Carter, Reagan, Clinton and even Bush had shutdowns during their times in office all for different reasons. On one side, I understand that there are better ways to try and stand your political ground than to do it at the expense of the American people, which is why I believe members of Congress and the president should be taking the pay cuts, not federal employees who have nothing to do with this. On the other hand, I see a hypocritical, poor-excuse-for-a-leader standing before me calling this a “Republican Shutdown”, while he sits there and refuses to negotiate any part of his detrimental healthcare law, such as the taxation of important medical devices that will inevitably cause less