Well, they did it: they broke the government. Congress failed to agree to continue funding the federal treasury into the new fiscal year, which began October 1. So now 821,000 federal employees have some time off, while the remaining 2.4 million continue to operate essential services.
“Essential services” include things like the CIA, the Internal Revenue Service, and the NSA (although its website is not being updated). They don’t include America’s 401 national parks and monuments, which are now closed. Sorry, tourists, but you are no longer able to visit the Grand Canyon, the Statue of Liberty, the Smithsonian Institution, the Liberty Bell, Mount Rushmore, the Lincoln Memorial, or even the NASA website.
The NASA website this morning
Last week’s column explained the reasons for this, which in a nutshell have to do with Republicans’ repeated attempts to stop President Obama’s health-care reform.
Congressman Tim Murphy of Pennsylvania, who is chairman of the House Oversight Committee, says that he and other Republicans are the heroes in this fight because Obamacare is already experiencing delays and cost overruns.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says that he and other Democrats are the heroes because they “will not go to conference with a gun to our head.”
In America, we’re told that heroes are people who fight for what they believe in, not people who work toward a consensus. This might be the logical consequence of that.
Obamacare is funded by a separate budget, and is not affected by the current shutdown.
The National Park Service website
In the world’s oldest modern democracy, the people theoretically have the last word. Last week, a Quinnipiac University poll asked 1,497 registered voters: “Do you support or oppose Congress shutting down major activities of the federal government as a way to stop the health-care law from being put into place?” Seventy-two percent said they oppose such action, although 49 percent of Republican voters support it.
A CNN/ORC poll of 803 Americans, also from last week, showed that 46 percent blame Republicans for the shutdown, while 36 percent blame Obama and 13 percent blame both. The poll also asked, “Do you think the Republicans/Democrats in Congress have acted mostly like responsible adults or mostly like spoiled children during the recent debate over the federal budget?” A majority said both parties had acted like spoiled children.
Still traveling?
The US State Department still has some money left in some of its accounts, so American embassies and consulates are still open, and it is still possible to get a visa to the United States. Unlike the last shutdown in 1995–96, which happened later in the year, Americans can also still get passports, although the building the passport office is in may be closed.
