As Congress continues to debate over ObamaCare, a government shutdown seems to be approaching quickly. (For those of you who want more information about shutdowns, CNN gives a brief description of how a government shutdown will affect Americans). The majority Republican House wants to pass a bill to delay Obama's Affordable Care Act for a year, however, the largely Democratic Senate, will most likely not pass that bill, which could play a role, along with the debt crisis, in causing a government shutdown. According to The New York Times, as the debate to pass the bill to delay Obama's Health Care Laws continued, it ultimately came down to two options for Republicans: vote for the bill to delay the health care laws and cause a shutdown or accept the Senate's bill and potentially face a Republican backlash. This past weekend, House Speaker, John Boehner, decided to accept the bill to delay the health care laws, making a government shutdown even more realistic.
What are your thoughts? Do you think Boehner made the right decision? How do you think a shutdown will affect Americans' daily lives? Do you see any potential solutions to prevent a government shutdown?
4 comments:
Actually, the Republicans have a third option - pass the bill they want to pass, and it'll be up to the Senate to approve/reject the bill, as is normal. The Democrats accuse the Republicans of brinkmanship, but a the same time, they have stated plainly that they would fight against any bill that wasn't "clean".
Wait, what? The Democrats want the Republicans to do exactly what the Dems want, refuse to pass anything else, and at the same time accuse the GOP of gambling with America's future?
Obamacare, as it stands isn't some "bipartisan" thing that everyone can agree on - not by far. For those who oppose it and see the costs it will incur over the next decades, it represents a step backwards in the fight against our ever growing piles of national debt. Even if this national debt doesn't end up burying us, the interest we pay on it cuts from the money we could be placing elsewhere.
On the other hand, I find it quite funny how Congresspeoples' and the president's salaries will not be cut, because Congressional pay can't be changed during the yearv (27th Amendment, repurposed), and the President's is conveniently "mandatory spending".
I would support the Republican bill to delay the implementation of the ACA (personally, I ain't a fan of government providing more than "necessary" services, and I don't believe that a lot of the procedures companies need to cover under the ACA are "necessary").
From my perspective, the shutdown won't affect me much. Yes, teachers do get some of their money from federal block grants, but I'll be damned if any of my teachers took the job for the money (but anyway, that's something for the teachers to decide). Public museums may be closed, as will be National Parks, but hey, with the amount of homework they're piling on us, visiting such places has become an "ain't nobody got time for that" luxury.
The answer is really quite simple (in concept, not in implementation). The Republicans need to ease up a bit on their slicing and dicing of the ACA, and at the same time the Democrats need to realize that the ACA isn't a magical unicorn that everyone loves. I think the first step both sides need to take is to stop trying to demonize each other; calling the other person a flaming idiot and treasonous bastard has never (at least in my experience) been conducive to compromise.
To me, bottom line is that the debt ceiling debate should have nothing to with a health care law. Two separate topics with very different purposes. Want to fight the health care law? Do it elsewhere. The debt ceiling is not about health care. Republicans need to stop the blackmailing.
I agree with Nathan that the Affordable Care Act comes with questionable provisions. It's not the kingdom come, and it's not even something an overwhelming number of Americans support. However, this debate belongs elsewhere - perhaps a room with an unreachable ceiling.
*LIBERAL ALERT*
I have to agree with Brandon in admitting that I feel rather wronged by the Republicans' use of a simple measure to fund the federal government at current levels as a way to push the issue of delaying Obamacare. True, Republicans might not be seriously heard out any other way, but using basic federal government funding as leverage? Funding the government is Congress's JOB, for crying out loud. Come on, you couldn't even wait until the debt ceiling battle that's only a few weeks away? Seeing as the Democrats (both the Senate and the president, mind you) had made absolutely clear that there would be no negotiating on the subject Obamacare, it appears quite clear to me that Republicans had approached the issue from a purely ideological perspective, for that House bill would never made it through the Senate and the White House in all practical possibility.
I will admit though, the same description could be used to characterize the Democrats' no-negotiation approach to the issue, though I ask, do they not have somewhat of a right to that as the majority (Senate & presidency vs. House) in the lawmaking process?
True, both sides played brinkmanship. But, I find it extremely ironic that Republicans believe, and believe that most people believe, that Democrats are the ones to blame in this whole debacle, when House Republicans had a clean Senate funding bill literally siting there, waiting for their approval. When one house of Congress, no, not even that - when the far right extremes of the Republican party, in opposition to both the other house and the executive, prevent most of the federal government from actually functioning, there is a serious problem here.
One could say that the actual approach from both sides was, "Hey, let's let the government shut down, and then we'll blame the other side and hope they get a good thrashing for it." House Republicans, according to Paige's NY Times article, have "political fallout" protections in place and ardently argue that Democrats were too stubborn to accept a small compromise that would only have delayed the implementation of their landmark achievement for ANOTHER ENTIRE YEAR. Oh, and come next year, let's just delay it again! In all honesty, I sure do hope that House Republicans get a good shellacking from the public in the coming days.
Ok, that's your liberal rant for the day. I invite dissenting and hopefully more balanced discussion of this issue than I have been able to provide. Also, this government shutdown is going to cost the economy and taxpayers a ton of money, and apparently more money than if the government was up and running. Fun stuff.
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