Policy

A day after the government shutdown ends, what’s the fallout on Twitter?

It’s been a heady couple of weeks after a partial government shutdown. Although it was spurred by a budget crisis after House Republicans refused to OK Obamacare funding costs it was prolonged by a failure to negotiate a compromise.

By Stephanie Baum on October 17, 2013

It’s been a heady couple of weeks after a partial government shutdown. Although it was spurred by a budget crisis after House Republicans refused to OK Obamacare funding costs it was prolonged by a failure to negotiate a compromise. The only concession Republicans won was a requirement that the administration certify that procedures are in place to verify the incomes of those seeking insurance subsidies. Otherwise the Affordable Care Act remained unchanged. Here’s a helpful guide to the highlights:

 

Ultimately it ended after more time was added to the meter. So what we have learned in the past fortnight? Are there any losers or winners in this Obamacare square off? Ironically Obama’s statement that there were no winners also applies to him to some extent. But it got tweeted nearly 3,000 times.

  Clinical trials in the spotlight Clinical trials certainly got attention and we found out just how much politicians can risk by ignoring their importance. The House voted to restore some funding for the FDA once news of children with cancer getting shut out of clinical trials because of the government shutdown spread. Reddit drew attention to the plight of researchers and biotechnologists as a result of the government shutdown. They talked about the impact on clinical trials, lost lab time and a re-evaluation of priorities. But the damage may take some time to assess, according to this Politico article.

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Congress draws more ire No matter which Congressional leaders resisted efforts at a compromise, Congress can’t seem to stop drawing negative attention to itself. And all it’s done with the vote end to the shutdown is to create more uncertainty and more costly political theater over the Affordable Care in three months time.

 

 

Ultimately, politicians can still surprise us, especially if Texas Gov. Rick Perry is anything to go by. Maybe this is reason to things might be different when Congress resumes budget negotiations and debt ceiling talks next year: