Midnight last night was the deadline for finding a consensus between the Republican led House of Representatives and the Democrat led Senate over a budget for next year which would have allowed the government to continue to pay all public employees.
The impasse means that up to 700000 public employees will be put on leave without pay since the government doesn’t have the funds to pay them. These workers have no assurance that their employer will pay them retroactively when a budget is finally agreed. State run museums, national parks and similar facilities will be shutdown;
Pensions and benefit payments to military veterans will be delayed; and visa and passport applications will await processing as the government financial tap is firmly turned off. However, essential public services and employees in uniform together with food inspection staff and air traffic control staff will continue to work and be funded, thanks to legislation signed by the President on Monday.
The Republicans were demanding a concession from the government over the medical insurance scheme commonly known as Obamacare which would have seen implementation delayed for a year. The Democrat position is that this is a “business as usual” budget and that no special strings should be attached and they were in no mood to acquiesce to the demand; so the government faces its first budget shutdown since 1995-6. That shutdown was instigated by the Republicans in an attempt to force the Clinton administration to agree what they saw as a balanced budget and lasted for three weeks – the longest ever shutdown.
President Obama reacted angrily to the current shutdown, commenting on his Twitter account that: "They actually did it. A group of Republicans in the House just forced a government shutdown over Obamacare instead of passing a real budget."
The next chance for American self-harm will be 17th October 2013 when the people’s elected representatives will have to agree to raise the nation’s debt ceiling in order for the USA to be able to meet its obligations. The question is whether Republicans and Democrats can focus on whom they are supposed to serve and come to a deal in the national interest.