‘Don’t Blame the Man Holding the Gun’

On the first of October, the federal government of the United States was shutdown. It would last until the 16^th of October and would be the first shutdown in 17 years. Luckily, it was averted by an emergency bill that would end the looming debt ceiling crisis.

The Shutdown and the Public

Before we survey the aftermath of this shutdown, it is necessary to look at how the general public was affected over these sixteen days. 800, 000 civilian workers would not return to work during this time. Notably, the Small Business Administration would not be guaranteeing new loans and the Internal Revenue Service would not be auditing. Other services deemed more essential, like the armed forces and air-traffic controllers, would still continue to run as usual.

Prominent Republican Sarah Palin likened the shutdown to a ‘pinprick’ in an interview on Fox News. Admittedly, there were many Americans who went on with their lives as they always have done.  Palin was undoubtedly one of them. Conversely, her comment shows how very out of touch with reality and with the American public she and many of her Republican colleagues are. Indeed, this has been a recurring theme in October and one which has lost the GOP a great deal of political capital.

With regard to the ‘pinprick’, the Department of Veteran Affairs was threatened with delays in processing claims and making payments to veterans.[1] This has been a historical problem with the Department, especially with the lack of functionality of VistA (the information system for VA) and the considerable backlog, and would only see itself further threatened by the shutdown. Secretary Eric Shinseki would put the number at 1,400 veterans delayed a day during the shutdown.[2] However, it would appear that backlog would actually fall during October.[3] While this may be the case, had the shutdown gone on for longer, the insulated funding provided for the Department would have dried up.

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) also found itself at risk from the shutdown with their funding only being able to last ‘a week or so’.[4]  The program supplies roughly 9 million mothers and their children living below the poverty line with vouchers for both nutritional and health care services.[5] Once again, had the shutdown gone on for longer, it is hard to imagine the extent of the damage that would have been done to families and not just the quantifiable economic and political damages sustained.

If this was not a ‘pinprick’, surely it must have been a necessary evil the hostage-takers were willing to incur on the veterans, pregnant women and children of the United States. In terms of economic damage, we can see consumer purchases falling[6] while other numbers are still being crunched and losses awaiting quantification. In the end it was an incredibly damaging and pointless political exercise and one which caused great disillusionment with the US government.

Obamacare

The House Republicans would hold the government hostage over the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) also known as ‘Obamacare’. This overhaul of the American healthcare system has seen opposition and challenges at every stage for three years. One would think that after the Supreme Court ruled that Obamacare was in fact constitutional[7], that its implementation would be relatively seamless. Surely the highest appellate court in the country ruling on the constitutionality of a piece of legislation would carry some sort of clout? Republican Senator Rand Paul (Kentucky) did not think so:

‘Just because a couple people on the Supreme Court declare something to be 'constitutional' does not make it so. The whole thing remains unconstitutional. While the court may have erroneously come to the conclusion that the law is allowable, it certainly does nothing to make this mandate or government takeover of our health care right.’[8]

While Rand Paul might struggle with comprehending function of the United States Supreme Court, it is incredibly apparent for everyone else – they are the final arbiters on what is constitutional in the country.

However, it should be noted that ‘Obamacare’ is experiencing an incredible amount of difficulties, especially with regards to registering online on their website.[9] Undeterred from the failure of the shutdown, the Republicans have turned from attacking the legality and constitutionality of the Act to attacking the website.[10] While Republican efforts could be focused more positively, valid questions about the website are being raised and I will be covering this issue in greater detail in the future.

Unfortunately, the victims of the shutdown did not experience the Stockholm Syndrome that the Republicans had hoped for. Those affected by the shutdown did not sympathize with their captors. Once again the Republicans had found themselves out of touch with the public and more importantly with their own supporters in the Republican and Tea Party Ranks. Opinion polls show that support for the Republicans has fallen.[11]This grave miscalculation could not be salvaged by trying to attribute blame to Obama and the Democrats for being unwilling to give into their demands. This stance would pay off for the Democrats in the end. Of course, they did not emerge unscathed, but they are doing considerably better than their Republican counterparts.

Democrat Senator Harry Reid (Nevada) said, ‘[The President and I] just both came to the conclusion that the time had ended to be taken in by these crazy people. The President said, 'I'm not going to negotiate … And we didn't.’[12]

It is incredibly hard to argue that you are not crazy when you are the one holding the gun.

Vladislav Ioukhyma

USA Editor

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[1] Catherine Thompson, ‘Veterans Affairs Secretary Says Benefit Payments Will Halt If Shutdown Continues’  (Talking Points Memo, 9 October 2013) <http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/veterans-affairs-secretary-says-benefit-payments-will-halt-if-shutdown-continues> accessed 25 October 2013.

[2] Chris Lawrence and Tom Dunlavey, ‘Shutdown’s Impact May Not Be Over For Veterans’ (CNN Political, 9 October 2013) <http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/10/19/shutdowns-impact-may-not-be-over-for-veterans/> 25 October 2013.

[3] Scott MacFarlane, ‘Despite Warnings, Veterans' Affairs Reduced Backlog During Shutdown’ (NBC News, 22 October 2013) <http://www.nbcwashington.com/investigations/Despite-Warnings-of-Government-Shutdown-Dept-of-Veterans-Affairs-Reduced-Backlog-228836081.html> accessed 25 October 2013.

[4] Clare O’Connor, ‘Government Shutdown: 9 Million Moms and Babies At Risk As WIC Program Halts’ (Forbes, 2 October 2013) http://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2013/10/02/government-shutdown-9-million-moms-and-babies-at-risk-as-wic-program-halts/ accessed 25 October 2013.

[5] ibid.

[6] Luciana Lopez ‘U.S. consumer sentiment slides in October on government shutdown’ (Reuters, 25 October 2013) <http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/25/us-usa-economy-sentiment-idUSBRE99O0LU20131025> accessed 27 October 2013.

[7] National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius

[8] Nick Wing, ‘A Year After Supreme Court Ruling, Obamacare Is Still Constitutional, National Still Hasn’t Imploded’ (Huffington Post, 28 July 2013) <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/28/obamacare-supreme-court-ruling_n_3513596.html> accessed 25 October 2013.

[9] David Morgan and Susan Cornwell, ‘Key U.S. Official Faces Grilling Over Obamacare Website’ (Reuters, 27 October 2013) <http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/27/us-usa-healthcare-congress-idUSBRE99Q00Z20131027> accessed 27 October 2013.

[10] Michael C Bender and Kathleen Miller, ‘Republicans Shift Obamacare Tactics After Shutdown’ (Bloomberg, 25 October 2013) <http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-25/republicans-shift-obamacare-tactics-after-shutdown-hurt-ratings.html> accessed 27 October 2013.

[11] Dan Balz and Scott Clement, ‘Poll: Major damage to GOP after shutdown, and broad dissatisfaction with government’ (Washington Post, 22 October 2013)  < http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/poll-major-damage-to-gop-after-shutdown-and-broad-dissatisfaction-with-government/2013/10/21/dae5c062-3a84-11e3-b7ba-503fb5822c3e_story.html> accessed 25 October 2013.

[12] Sam Stein and Ryan Grim, ‘Inside The Meeting Where Obama and Reid Vowed Not To Be ‘Taken In By These Crazy People’ (Huffington Post, 22 October 2013) <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/22/obama-reid_n_4136996.html> accessed 25 October 2013.

Disclaimer: The views expressed are that of the individual author, not those of DUPS or Clifford Chance. All rights are reserved to the original authors of the materials consulted, which are listed in the bibliography above.