United States is under verge of a partial shutdown due to deadlock over President Obama’s historic Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. Negotiations are ongoing but a shutdown after midnight is inevitable after the refusal of either house to pass a bill proposed by the other. Obamacare bill comes to effect from Midnight, October 1.
The U.S. Senate on Monday afternoon rejected a funding bill plan passed by the House of Representatives early Sunday. The upper chamber had approved removal of one-year delay of Obamacare from the House funding bill. The Senate funding bill now gets back to House.
Under this situation, the US Federal government would cease providing all but “essential” services due to lack of funds to sustain it.
In the event of a government shutdown, hundreds of thousands of public servants will stay on the job without pay and several hundred thousands more will be immediately and indefinitely furloughed.More than 800,000 federal workers were to be furloughed and more than a million others would be asked to go to work without pay.
Typically, services that continue despite a shutdown include police, fire fighting, the National Weather Service and its parent agencies, medical services at federal facilities, the postal service, armed forces, air traffic management, and corrections (the penal system).
According to White House, “Office buildings would close. Paychecks would be delayed. Vital services that seniors and veterans, women and children, businesses and our economy depend on would be hamstrung. Business owners would see delays in raising capital, seeking infrastructure permits, or rebuilding after Hurricane Sandy. Veterans who’ve sacrificed for their country will find their support centers unstaffed. Tourists will find every one of America’s national parks and monuments, from Yosemite to the Smithsonian to the Statue of Liberty, immediately closed. And of course, the communities and small businesses that rely on these national treasures for their livelihoods will be out of customers and out of luck.”
The Shutdown became inevitable after the Democrat-dominated Senate on Monday afternoon rejected a measure approved by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, with amendments including one that ties funding for government agencies to a one-year delay of Obama’s signature healthcare law.
On the Contrary, the The funding bill was kicked back to the House. Failure to reach an agreement on terms for funding the government by midnight Monday would force the first partial U.S. government shutdown since 1996.
U.S. stocks retreated on Monday due to fears of partial government shutdown. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 128.57 points, or 0.84 percent, to 15,129.67 points. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock Index dropped 10.20 points, or 0.60 percent, to 1,681.55 points. The Nasdaq Composite Index shed 10.11 points, or 0.27 percent, to 3,771.48 points.
“A shutdown will have a very real economic impact on real people, right away,” says US President Barack Obama told reporters. “Past shutdowns have disrupted the economy significantly. This one will too,”
An estimate shows that a one week shutdown would cost the US economy losses amounting $10 Billion.
So far US has witnessed several shutdowns in past, the last being in 1996, during the tenure of President Bill Clinton.The Shutdown lasted for 21 days.