On the morning of Thursday, October 17th, federal employees eagerly flocked back to work after 16 days of frightening uncertainty. Furloughed workers rejoiced when Obama signed the bill that ended the government shutdown at 12:30 AM.
While Congressional Republicans and Democrats engaged in frustrating and heated debates to decide on a plan to finally end this shutdown, significant government programs remained stagnant. Environmental and energy-related projects like wind project research, which focuses on “reducing the cost of wind technology and expanding access to wind energy sites,” were put on hold. Inspection for oil and gas drilling, which involves deep digging using processes such as hydraulic fracturing to strike oil, ceased; inspection of these sites is necessary for worker safety. Clean air enforcement was postponed, too, which monitors the operation of sources of air pollution from particulate matter, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide, lead, and ozone under the Clean Air Act.
During the shutdown, the food that we ate may not have been inspected since inspections of domestic food except meat and poultry were terminated. Congresswoman Rosa L. Delauro of Connecticut said, “This is a self-inflicted wound that is putting people’s health at risk. You’re creating the potential for a real public health crisis.”
Tourists visiting the United States during this time were cursed with a bit of misfortune as they were constantly turned away from closed national institutions, bearing signs such as, “Due to the Federal Government shutdown, the Smithsonian Institution must be closed. We regret the inconvenience.” National parks and the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. remained closed as well. At the National Zoo, the ever popular Panda cam was turned off; viewers saw a depressing blank screen instead of being graced by Mei Xiang and her adorable cub.
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Congress’s failure at first to come up with a plan for the fiscal year sent the nation into a downward spiral. Initially, Republicans insisted that they would finance the government only if the President’s healthcare law was discarded and the medical device tax included in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) was repealed. But after two weeks of an inactive government, Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) and Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) drafted a master plan to end this shutdown, which the Congressional Republicans accepted just in the nick of time, before the Department of
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Treasury would lose the ability to borrow money.
With this agreement, the government will be funded through January 15, 2014 and the debt limit will be raised through February 7, 2014. Will the nation have to suffer another shutdown as these deadlines approach?