800,000 workers still see no doors opening anytime soon, welcoming them back to their workplace. As the government goes into its fifth day of lockdown – with no end in sight – the Republicans and Democrats found at least one way to agree on something. Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives agreed on Saturday to retroactively pay 800,000 furloughed federal employees once the government reopens. Unfortunately, it’s not enough to end this playground conflict.
The bill was passed unanimously and it is expected to clear the Senate and be signed by President Barack Obama. Now the parties are spending time trying to mend whatever problems the shutdown has caused, at the end of the day, still nothing has been negotiated regarding the Affordable Care Act.
Republicans argue that the law will cause insurance premiums to skyrocket, put people out of work and eventually lead to socialized medicine. They have refused to pass a funding bill without attaching measures that would undercut Obamacare. In the meantime, Obama and his supporting Democratic party will make no negotiations on the bill or on raising the debt ceiling, which will see its deadline on October 17th. This must be done in order to avoid default. Although Obama insisted no negotiations would be made, he told AP that he would be willing to negotiate with Republicans on health care, deficit reduction and spending — but only if House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, holds votes to reopen the government and increase the nation’s borrowing limit.
