Blog 1

Behind the Scene of the Government Shutdown
     Have you ever wondered why the government shutdown? Who was involved and why they allowed it?
           That is what we were wondering as well.

When the government shutdown first began, in the beginning of October, people knew that it was a disagreement between two groups, but did not understand the underlying issues of the disagreement. The speaker for the Repbulican party, Boehner, had the upper hand in deciding whether to pass or put down the Senate's proposed spending bill and keep the government running. When the spending bill was proposed, the Republicans pushed to make sure that the bill included defunding of Obamacare. The Democrats pushed that the bill did not include defunding of Obamacare. The spending bill proposed by the Senate did not get passed, and therefore the government shutdown. The Shutdown lasted for sixteen straight days starting on October 1, 2013 when the new fiscal funding year (2014) began. The Shutdown, which cost the US Government $24 billion (TIME), affected hundreds of thousands of federal employees and millions of other US citizens. Many people were furloughed or forced to work without pay. National parks, museums, and other federally funded sites were closed, all because the Republicans and Democrats in both the House and the Senate could not come to an agreement. On October 16, 2013, the Senate finally agreed to suspend the debt ceiling until January 2014, effectively ending the Government Shutdown, for now...

 Jocelyns view:
In my (Jocelyn) own personal opinion, I believe that this is all political drama. I understand that the government shutdown because the senate tried to pass a spending bill. With the spending bill being proposed, the democrat party and republican parties did not agree. I find this ironic because both parties are there for the purpose of making decisions for our government and making sure that the decisions are beneficial. I feel that, with this situation, both parties were not in agreement to make a big deal and get reactions. They wanted people to know what was going on and to form opinions.

Jennifers view:
In my (Jennifer) opinion, the Government Shutdown caused so many people anguish and made them see our government as a negative. I personally know of a few people who were directly affected and it was difficult to watch them worry about what was going to happen. For people who were furloughed, they worked day to day without pay, or did not work at all. These people had the burden on their shoulders about how they would pay their bills without being paid themselves. The government agreed on a temporary plan, for now, but we will all revisit this issue in the beginning of the New Year, which only causes federal employees and other US citizens to worry from then until now. The whole shutdown is not only causing issues amongst the political parties in our government but is causing issues amongst the citizens of our country. The shutdown is the biggest story throughout newslines across the country, affecting so many people and I think that the government needs to come to an effective permanent decision quickly, before January, so that our country can go back to normalcy.

http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2013/1017/Government-shutdown-over-How-big-of-a-hit-did-the-US-economy-take-video
http://swampland.time.com/2013/10/17/heres-what-the-government-shutdown-cost-the-economy/ http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/30/politics/government-shutdown-up-to-speed/