Tuesday, October 01, 2013

America shuts down

If there was concern in Bigastro about not passing the payment plan to suppliers in time to avert a 50% cut in government funding to the town, just imagine how tense things were in Washington last night.

In Bigastro, the Socialist leader changed his mind at the last minute and voted for the proposed plan, at Capitol Hill there was no such change of heart. The Republicans in the House of Representatives tried three times to force the Democrats in the Senate to delay the plans for President Obama’s controversial Affordable Care Act but they were having none of it.

The Democrats claim that Obamacare was passed four years ago, was ratified by the supreme court and was endorsed by voters at the last election. The Republicans say that the law will cause untold damage to the American people and to the economy.

As midnight drew close and no solution to the impasse was forthcoming, the President signed the order which will enforce an orderly shutdown of Government organisations. In effect, 800,000 workers will now take unpaid leave.

Where they go from there is far from clear. The Democrats argue that, if they concede to the demands of the Republicans on this issue, they will be back within a week making further demands. That, of course, is the situation that Raúl Valerio Medina may find himself in here.

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