On October 1st,  the government officially went into shutdown.  How did this happen, you might be asking. Well, one of Congresses key duties is to help fund the government by passing spending bills.  If the bill doesn’t pass, most services of the government can’t run, such as funding agencies and processing passport requests.  The reason that this bill didn’t pass, causing the government to go into shutdown, was because the Republicans in the house are determined stop funding Obamacare, a law that requires all Americans to have health insurance.  In contrast, the Democrats are just as stubborn to keep the program running.  Some of the arguments the Republicans are giving, are that this will hurt employers.  Some also argue that the medical device tax that is included in the law for Obamacare, “basically sending jobs overseas.”  Some counterattacks that the Democrats are giving are that since Obamacare prevents people who have pre existing health issues from being denied health care, those who do have health care won’t have to indirectly pay for those who are uninsured.

Personally, I don’t really have an opinion on the matter of Obamacare, mostly because I don’t buy insurance or pay taxes.  I do know, however, that this decision will impact many others. Such as people who don’t want to pay extra taxes, and people who can’t afford health insurance.  I think that it was slightly unnecessary for the government to go into shutdown over this matter, instead of them coming to a consensus.  Soon, hopefully, The House will come to an agreement and the government will be restored.

~ Maryam