It seems that the general population doesn’t understand what the government shutdown actually did, and what this means for the nation. In a very general sense, it just means that the non-essential federally funded government agencies were shut down while Congress devised a budget for all of these “non-essential” agencies.
This affects many federally funded employees, which includes my parents, who work for the national forest service, who were furloughed for the shutdown.To be furloughed means to be temporarily out of commission, usually due to economic complications. They still received pay, but what about the 16 days of lost work? It’s just written off as a loss, but in a country plagued
by debt, this loss of productivity in this amount is inexcusable. For the estimated 800,000 government employees out of work, it’s more than just the pay, it’s protecting our country, forests and needy, as members of the Defense Department, Forest Service, Social Security Administration and many others were furloughed.
The only reasoning that’s been stated by the Republican party as to why they refused to pass a budget is because of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, and that it’s “unconstitutional” or “detrimental to the economy.” I can’t exactly grasp how a government shutdown is the solution. The Act is now a law, and was made according to the Constitution. It generated in Congress, was signed by the President and was passed by the Supreme Court. So it is constitutional, by definition. If there was a specific portion of the ACA that is unconstitutional, then please come forward with it, don’t just claim the bill is unconstitutional with no support. Also, putting federal employees out of work seems to me to be quite detrimental to the economy; which is strange because another main issue that has to do with the resentment of the ACA regards how much the law will “destroy” the economy. All of these flawed reasons lead me to believe there’s a different agenda on Republicans’ minds. They’re not looking out for the public, being the watchdogs of the congressional world as they claim to be. It’s been shown that health insurance agencies have poured millions of dollars into Republican campaign funds. If the Republicans want to keep their campaign funds and be re-elected, they need to pass laws that benefit these insurance companies, much unlike the Affordable Care Act.
Refusing to pass a budget is not what U.S. citizens elected Congressmen for. Taxes go to their paychecks so that they actually pass a governmental budget, not to refuse to because things aren’t going their way. There are checks and balances in place already, why can’t there be another one implemented to prevent this kind of thing? It’s not the first time the government has shut down due to disagreements in Congress. Congress simply shouldn’t be paid if they refuse to do anything. Or, better yet, they should all just be fired and their offices should be held open for a new election.