After weeks of arguing by the two parties and hours of tense negotiations on Friday, an 11th hour deal was reached by Democrats and Republicans about the budget for the federal government. In short, with less than two hours until the federal government would’ve been shut down due to lack of funding, party leaders finally came up with a plan that would concede something to each side. Republicans held firm on their desire for historically high budget cuts, while Democrats held off Republican demands for less funding to the new health care law and other Democratic programs. Although it seems like a victory that lawmakers were able to avert the crisis of a government shutdown, any celebrations should be short-lived and peppered with questions.
Why did we even let it get this far? Had negotiations failed or lasted two hours longer, more than 800,000 federal employees would’ve been temporarily out of work and a host of government services would’ve come to a screeching halt. With so much on the line, including the possibility of further crippling our recovering economy, why would our leaders even entertain the idea of a shutdown? Unfortunately, not only was it entertained, but the wheels had already begun to turn with employees starting to receive their furlough notices on Thursday.
In a divided government like this, with one party controlling Congress while the other controls the White House, compromises must be made in order to reach any kind of deal. But sometimes the politics get in the way. Thoughts of reelection or pressure from constituents – like that from the conservative Tea Party movement on Republican leaders – serve to cloud the judgment of some officials. The fact that Republicans refused to back down from their extreme positions, which started with a proposal of $61 billion cuts in the federal budget, all but guaranteed a standoff between the two sides and significantly increased the likelihood of a shutdown. But not all of those 800,000 workers are Democrats; failing to compromise would’ve left Republicans without their paychecks as well.
Americans can speculate all day about what would’ve happened had midnight come and gone without compromises being made and a deal being reached. In the end – however late it was – a deal was eventually reached and a shutdown of the federal government was avoided. But this was just a warm-up for much bigger fights to come and now we need to face the real question: how will our leaders deal with the even more consequential battles on the horizon? If things continue like this, eventually political agendas and politician’s pride will end up hurting all Americans, regardless of party affiliation.
--EmilyArticles:
Bendavid, Naftali. "Last-Minute Deal Averts Shutdown." Wall Street Journal (2011): n. pag. Web. 9 Apr 2011. <http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704503104576250541381308346.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories>.
Hulse, Carl. "Deal To Cut $38 Billion Averts Government Shutdown." New York Times (2011): n. pag. Web. 9 Apr 2011. <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/09/us/politics/09fiscal.html?_r=1&hp>.
Weisman, Jonathan. "Shutdown Holds Risk For GOP." Wall Street Journal (2011): n. pag. Web. 7 Apr 2011. <http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704101604576247100322182190.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories>.
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