U.S. Government Shutdown
The reviewed article by Paul Lewis titled “U.S. shutdown and debt ceiling deal: what does the agreement mean?” that was published in “The Guardian” on October 16th 2013 depicts the overall situation around the Affordable Care Act - Debt Ceiling lift debate that resulted in a 16 day U.S. Federal Government paralysis, which led to the worldwide political, economical, and financial tension.
It all started after Republicans in the House of Representatives refused to pass a budget resolution, unless Democrats would give in the Obama's health care law funding. From the very beginning everyone knew that government shutdown will be held to ransom for Health Care Act and debt ceiling raise, but The White House and Senate Democrats played their cards well being firm about their decision, which proved to be the winning tactics, with Republicans now being blamed for all of the trouble caused by the government shutdown.
Finally the consensus was reached on Wednesday; senate majority leader Harry Reid and minority leader Mitch McConnell presented it in the Senate, with it later passing both houses of Congress, and as a result the short-term threat of U.S. government failing to pay its debts is off the table, but just for now. The federal government is now able to reopen, with employees coming back to work and the U.S. Treasury being able to borrow more money to pay the bills.
But the bigger picture remains, with the debt ceiling being raised only until February 7th 2014, and the government reopened until January 15th 2014, so there is a great possibility of the same situation later.
And what happened to those who opposed funding the Health Care Act? Well, now they are actively hammered in the polls for taking the whole country to the brink of economic disaster. Comparing Louisiana Republican Charles Boustany comments in the interview: "There are members with a different agenda. And I'm not sure they're Republicans and I'm not sure they're conservative." with Kansas Republican Tim Huelskamp, a member of Tea Party congressional caucus, who stated that: "People back at home realize not all Republicans are conservatives. And some Republicans are anti-conservative." shows us the obvious fact that Republicans were divided even before the whole situation occurred (Lewis, 2013).
Works cited
Lewis, P. (2013, October 16). U.S. shutdown and debt ceiling deal: what does the agreement mean? The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/16/senate-strikes-budget-agreement-crisis
