No, the government shutdown does not entail a real life “The Purge,” and yes, students must still attend scheduled classes, but the recent government shutdown does affect UW-L students and the surrounding community in multiples forms.
On Tuesday, Chancellor
Joe Gow stated, “So far, I’m not aware of any effects the Federal Government
shutdown has had on our university.” As of Thursday, students have been
informed by Gow that UW-L’s Reserves Officers Training Corps Eagle
Battalion (ROTC) will be shut down after more than 40 years of involvement at
UW-L. The U.S. Army decided to close the program due to insufficient funds likely
caused by the sequester and government shutdown, said a ROTC cadet yesterday.
According to a press
release from the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, “The root of the pending
Republican plan to shut down the federal government if they can't defund
ObamaCare and allow employers to legally deny women birth control goes back to
Paul Ryan’s budget.”
According to David
Rogers, the unofficial dean of of the congressional press corps, "He (Paul
Ryan) is too smart not to have seen the holes in his budget plan. And once the
Senate followed with its own resolution, he failed to follow up by aggressively
pursuing a conference with Democrats.”
Paul Ryan commented in
a press release on September 30th, "We have an opportunity to
help families in need and help grow the economy. I hope we can find willing
partners on the other side of the aisle.”
After countless hours
of deliberation between the House and the Senate regarding a spending bill to
fund the government, no agreement was reached. As promised by Tea Party Republications,
if a provision to defund or derail Obamacare was not added, they would not
agree to a spending bill. With no incoming money to the government, a shutdown commenced
early Tuesday morning. The new health care law (The Affordable Care Act
commonly known as Obamacare) does not have direct connections to the spending
bill. The first stages of Obamacare still commenced on October 1st.
Wisconsin Representative Mark Pocan reacts, “This is a sad day for the American people, and our American democracy. Instead of working together to fulfill our most basic duty—to keep the government running—the extreme Tea Party wing has taken Congress hostage all the way to a government shutdown. Instead of being the world’s greatest example of representative government, we seem to have become the nation’s largest kindergarten—only with control of the nation’s checkbook and nuclear arsenal.”
Wisconsin Congressman
Reid Ribble continues, “Whether two days, two weeks or two months from now it
is irrational to assume the President is going to sign a law eliminating his
hallmark legislative achievement. The
only outcome this yields is additional acrimony, risk to our economy, and escalating
but appropriate distrust of government to actually get its work done. I hope congressional leadership in both
chambers and both parties will work expeditiously to resolve this issue and
bring this shutdown to a close."
President Obama states
in a press release, “We know that the last time Republicans shut down the
government in 1996, it hurt our economy.
And unlike 1996, our economy is still recovering from the worst
recession in generations.” Other implications include veteran services and benefits
that American seniors, veterans, and business owners depend on must be put on
hold. Certain government offices, national parks and monuments will also be
shut down. Many government/military workers on the job will be furloughed. This
means they will be forced to stay home and be unpaid. President Obama
did sign legislation to ensure that 1.4 million active-duty military personal
will remain paid.
These effects will
remain in place until the Senate and the House of Representatives come to an
agreement. Until then, families with government paychecks and local businesses which
rely on government workers will suffer. Losses such as the ROTC Eagle Battalion
to the UW-L campus is but one of many to come which will affect students in the
area.
