At long last, the
seemingly endless government shutdown has finally come to a close. This past Wednesday night, Congress finally
passed legislation that would reopen our government, which was signed by
President Obama.[1] This brought an end to the fifteen day
shutdown, allowing numerous governmental workers and services to resume their
normal functions.
According to
Fitzpatrick, this was made possible only through the compromises both sides
were willing to concede:
“The House compromise would make Congress and the President’s appointees
live under Obamacare, it would include income verification for Obamacare
subsidies which the President has waived, and, chips away at the job-crushing
medical device tax. Both Democrats and Republicans have voted for
these. Why would anybody negotiating in good faith oppose these
provisions which have wide bipartisan support?”[2]
Fitzpatrick
has long emphasized the need for bipartisan cooperation in the resolution of
the shutdown. This is a prime example of
both sides making some concessions to the other in order to bypass the impasse
we found ourselves at. Both sides
realized their initial goals (for the Republicans, to remove Obamacare
completely while the Democrats wanted it left untouched) simply were
unattainable. As a result, we see each
side yield to a degree to the other. As Fitzpatrick
puts it, the perceived negative effects of Obamacare may not have been
eliminated completely, but they at least were mitigated.
Another quote
from Fitzpatrick, however, may be even more significant than the last:
“The government shutdown was an entirely
avoidable crisis - not only if leaders at the highest levels would have taken
an interest in negotiating, but also if we had a legislative measure to prevent
it. That’s what the Government Shutdown Prevention Act [3]does. I cosponsored this bill back in March and it
could have been a proactive way to stop the cycle of governing by crisis.”[4]
Clearly, Fitzpatrick believes this whole
predicament could have been avoided. While
the lack of cooperation that allowed this situation to develop in the first
place should have never occurred, the fact that it did shows that measures must
be taken to prevent another crisis such as this from happening again.
All of this is reflective of the
widespread feelings of not only Fitzpatrick’s constituents, but those of the
nation as a whole. We have seen numerous
examples of the poor esteem Americans currently hold Congress in (perhaps
expressed most entertainingly in the following clip[5])
and it is only natural for Fitzpatrick to want to avoid being lumped together
with the “other” Congressmen that were a part of this problem. By taking these measures, he is admitting
that Congressmen can’t be trusted to avoid crises such as these of their own
accord and is making it clear to his constituents that he is supporting true
efforts to avoid letting such an unpopular and potentially harmful shutdown
from ever occurring again.
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