GovernmentShutdown 2013: What Happened?AbstractThis paper will examine the federalgovernment shutdown of 2013 it’s causes and effects, the perpetrators, and thelasting ramifications present today. With another government shutdown always onthe rise in American politics, it’s important to analyze the ramifications andfoundations for a shutdown. The drafting of the Patient Protection andAffordable Care Act (Obamacare) created a toxic political environment resultingin Tea Party members insisting on a government shutdown to “work out” the kinksof Obamacare and democratic congressman being defiant in protecting thesignature Obama era legislation. More than Democrats, Republicans werenegatively affected by the shutdown including most of the United States puttingblame on solely Republicans or a combination of both parties. The shutdowndirectly and indirectly affected many Americans for more than weeks and costedthe U.S. billions of dollars. It is hoped that this will help America learnfrom its mistakes and not opt into another government shutdown yet again.Keywords: Republicans, Democrats, Obamacare, insistent, shutdownFromOctober 1 through the 16th of 2013 the United States federalgovernment shutdown as neither legislature appropriated funds for the followingfiscal year of 2014. Regular working government resumed October 17 due to aninterim appropriations bill being signed into law. During the shutdown, roughly800,000 federal employees were furloughed for an undetermined period of time.Plus, an addition 1.3 million employees were required to report to work withoutknowing when they were to be paid. The shutdown lasted 16 days and was thethird longest government shutdown in U.S. history, behind the 1978 18-day shutdownand the 1995-1996 21-day shutdown.Thefinancial backup was created when the two chambers of congress were notsuccessful in agreeing to appropriate funds for the government. Congress failedto come to an agreement on a budget after Republican lawmakers in the House ofRepresentatives began pushing to defund the Patient Protection and AffordableCare Act also known as Obamacare. Unsurprisingly, the senate led by the Democrats,and the Obama administration rejected the propositions and the dead lock led tothe government shutdown. Congress has a key duty enamored in the Constitution,to pass spending bills that fund the government. If it doesn’t, most functionsof the government halt; services like Social Security, air traffic control andactive military pay will be funded. Let’s not forget that Congress gets paid tooduring government shutdowns (Yan, 2013). ThePatient Protection and Affordable Care Act requires all Americans to havehealth insurance. Republicans said it would hurt small business employers andoverreach of the federal government. The democrats defense in a nutshell, isthat the law will expand access to healthcare to a majority of Americans andhelp stifle the rising costs of Healthcare coverage. Proponents also voice thatthose with health insurance will no longer have to indirectly pay for thosepeople who end up in emergency rooms uninsured. This toxic mix of differingopinions led to Congress creating a funding gap for the federal government. TheTea Party and the Heritage Action for America used Obamacare as a bargainingchip to fund the government. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Actisn’t directly connected in funding the government. However, the group ofRepublicans, most notably led my infamous Tea Partier Ted Cruz of Texas wereinsistent that Obamacare was so bad for the country that it was worth shuttingthe government down. On the other side, Democrats were insistent that Obamacarewould remain the law of the land and were not going to hear dissenting opinionson the matter. Keyplayers are as follows, not in any particular order of importance: JohnBoehner, Harry Reid, Eric Cantor, Barack Obama, Ted Cruz, Nancy Pelosi, and MitchMcConnell. Isn’t it funny how the names haven’t changed all that much from2013. It’s almost as if America doesn’t learn its lessons from year to year. JohnBoehner was the Speaker of the House of the U.S. Representatives and led therepublican opposition along with the majority leader Eric Cantor in the House.Championing the Democratic cause in the House was minority leader, NancyPelosi, yet there was little she could have done with such a big Republicanmajority. On the other side of the 113th Congress was majorityleader in the Senate Harry Reid defending Obamacare, with opposition comingmost notably from Ted Cruz and his superior Mitch McConnell. And let’s notforget the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’s father, Barack Obama.He was not about to let his first domestic landmark piece of legislation bepicked apart by Republicans in Congress.Inshort, the Republicans in the House and Senate wanted to kill or seriouslydismantle Obamacare. It was not tied in any way to funding the government butthey thought of it as a way to bargain with Democrats. Republicans assumed(incorrectly however) that if Democrats wanted to keep funding the governmentthey would give some political power to the Republicans by means of disassemblingObamacare; seeing as Democrats did not control both houses of congress.However, Obamacare was not repealed. Obamacare was not defunded.Obamacare was not delayed. The individual mandate was not delayed. Themedical-device tax was not repealed. The health-insurance subsidies given tomembers of Congress and their staffs was not taken away. What theRepublicans did however get was their poll numbers tanking, and a big portionof their base being ticked off, most notably the elderly and veterans. And inmy opinion, seriously hurt Ted Cruz’s hopes of sweeping the nomination for theRepublic nominee in the 2016 Republican presidential primary. Nevertheless,during the 2014 midterms, Republicans gained 9 seats in the senate and 13 inthe House. Democrats wanted what theyneeded to accomplish to keep the government running. They wanted to furtherfund the government, increase the debt ceiling and keep the fundamentalpromises of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Ratherthan trying to pass one continuing resolution to fund the government.Republicans in the House tried a strategy of “piece-mealing” bills to fund nationalparks, museums, the National Institute of Health, the city of Washington D.C.,Department of Veterans Affairs, WIC, and FEMA. In 16 days, the U.S. House ofRepresentatives passed 10 bills to partially fund different portions of thefederal government. These bills were opposed by congressional Democrats andignored by the Senate in favor of passing one full resolution (Kasperowicz,2013). Ina Fox News poll conducted during the first two days of the shutdown,42% of registered voters blamed Republicans for the shutdown (17% blamed‘Republican leaders’ and 25% blamed ‘Tea Party Republicans such as Ted Cruz’);while 32% blamed Democrats (24% blamed ‘President Obama’ and 8% blamed‘Democratic leaders’). The rest, 20%, said all sides were to blame (Clements,2013).Inaddition, according to the NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, Republicanefforts to defund or delay the Affordable Care Act through a governmentshutdown had caused an increase in popular approval of the law, from 31%, justbefore the shutdown, to 38% (Ungar, 2013).If only the Republicanscould have predicted the future, they might have been more apt to avoid theshutdown; especially knowing now that the popularity of Obamacare went up awhopping 7 points. With the shutdown, Obamacare’s public polling has onlyincreased, maybe without the shutdown, Republicans would have had more lucktrying to “repeal and replace” the current law in 2017.The White House estimated that a one weekshutdown would cost the United States economy $10 billion. People directlyaffected by the shutdown were the 800,000 federal employees furloughedindefinitely, and the millions of “reserve components of the Armed Forces.”Including the Army National Guard, Army Reserve, Navy Reserve, Marine CorpsReserve, Air National Guard, Air Force Reserve, and Coast Guard Reserve(Michaels, 2013). Those indirectly affected by the governmentshutdown including those businesses that rely heavily of government employee’sdollars. Especially any business running in Washington D.C. Native Americans were big losers during theshutdown. Although the Bureau of Indian Affairs continued to run programsduring the shutdown that were considered essential, including police services andfirefighting. It stopped funding tribal governments as well as many programs andservices that provide necessary support for impoverished reservations (Frosch,2013). The cuts closed programs that provided income, medical care, food,transportation, and foster care to communities. In my opinion, America has a long way to go from learning from its mistakes. Looking at the leadership in Congress than versus now, it hasn’t changed all that much, and maybe that’s the problem.  Congress and to be honest, most Americans, know nothing of compromise. We are just on a never-ending cycle of one administration in power implementing programs and dismantling programs from the previous administration, and so on. We have a culture of “my way or the highway.” And maybe it’s American tenacity… or just plain stubbornness. ReferencesBarro, J. (2013, September 17). Ted Cruz Is Making Life Miserable For House Republicans. Retrieved October 12, 2017, from http://www.businessinsider.com/ted-cruz-is-making-life-miserable-for-house-republicans-2013-9Clement, S. (2013, October 04). Republicans are losing the shutdown blame game. Retrieved October 13, 2017, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2013/10/04/republicans-are-losing-the-shutdown-blame-game/?utm_term=.21aa19ce59aeFrosch, D. (2013, October 13). Pulling Aid Away, Shutdown Deepens Indians’ Distress. Retrieved November 26, 2017, from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/14/us/pulling-aid-away-shutdown-deepens-indians-distress.htmlKasperowicz, P. (2016, February 04). Monday: Government shutdown enters second week. Retrieved October 13, 2017, from http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/326825-monday-government-shutdown-enters-second-weekMichaels, J. (2013, October 01). Government shutdown has impact on military bases. Retrieved October 14, 2017, from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/10/01/bragg-hagel-obama-shutdown/2903915/Ungar, R. (2013, October 11). Boomerang! Poll Reveals GOP’s Government Shutdown Bolstered Obamacare’s Popularity By 20%. Retrieved October 12, 2017, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2013/10/11/boomerang-poll-reveals-gops-government-shutdown-bolstered-obamacare-popularity-by-20/#39fc14203946Yan, H. (2013, October 01). Government shutdown: What you need to know – CNNPolitics. Retrieved October 12, 2017, from http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/30/politics/government-shutdown-up-to-speed/index.htmlGet Help With Your EssayIf you need assistance with writing your essay, our professional essay writing service is here to help!Find out more