For weeks the well being of America has hung in the balance as disagreements over the federal deficit have made a government shutdown not only a possible solution, but a likely outcome. Shutdowns occur when the government can not agree on a suitable budget for the following fiscal year. The US government now faces such problems, as gridlock on capital hill has made an agreeable budget nearly impossible to attain.
What began as a battle to reduce the deficit all boiled down to a 2 billion dollar disagreement between parties that nearly cost America its functioning federal government. $2 billion being less than 2 tenths of 1 percent of America ’s $3.8 trillion budget, many questioned if the dispute was even necessary. “I think that’s stupid that they almost made American’s lives harder than they already are anyways,” said junior Shannon Wood.
Had the government not reached an agreement by 12:00 midnight, Friday the 8th, all “non essential” federal government functions and services would temporarily cease operations. These include things such as shutting down national parks and monuments, furloughing nearly 800,000 federal employees, and delayed payment of military families and those waiting on tax refunds. The Office of Management and Budget determines more specifically which federal functions will be stalled in the event of a shutdown. Operations such as running correctional facilities, the armed forces, and air traffic control would go unaltered, as they are necessary services for ensuring the safety of the American people.
The disagreement over the $2 billion came about as a result of increasing tensions between party lines, more specifically whether or not to cut funding for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, a decidedly pro abortion organization.
Democrats claimed that republicans were obsessed with cutting funding for Planned Parenthood, while the GOP argued that democrats just didn’t want to be serious about spending cuts in the middle of a debt crisis. Democratic Senator Harry Reid stated in the midst of debate, “The Tea Party is trying to move its extreme social agenda; issues that have nothing to do with funding the government.”
In the end, just over an hour before their 12:00 deadline, officials in the Senate reached a resolution, passing funding that would keep the government up and running until September, at which point Congress will be faced with millions of Americans hungry for an agreement that will finally put this issue to bed. In the mean time, debate over what to do with America ’s deficit continues.
