The Shutdown is Over!

This post is several weeks too late, but if Congress taught me anything during the government shutdown, it’s that you can refuse to do something, and then blame others when it isn’t done. Which will be my strategy when my papers aren't turned in on time.

           

If you didn’t notice, the government shutdown ended several weeks ago after the House and the Senate finally passed a bill. The bill, created by the Senate, fund the government until January 7^th, and raised the debt ceiling until February 7^th. Obamacare was not defunded or delayed. The only provision that related to Obamacare is that now the government is required to make sure people are eligible forsubsidized healthcare. For those of you keeping score, this means the Democrats were able to have what they asked for, while the Republicans did not end the shutdown with anything they wanted.

As you can imagine, Republicans were not happy about this. They were so not happy about this that 18 Republicans in the Senate voted against the measure. 144 House Republicans voted against the bill as well.

           

The bill also includes a clause that mandates a budget conference committee by December 13^th, the same thing the Democrats in the Senate have been calling for since they passed their budget.

Here’s hoping the December conference committee will create a budget that will fund the government for more than a few months, and our Congress can stop acting like a college student who waited to write a paper until the night before it was due. Speaking of which…