I'm a paragraph. Click here to add your own text and edit me. I’m a great place for you to tell a story and let your users know a little more about you.
GOP Goes Off-message on Obamacare
By: Jordan Wildman
Recently, Republicans missed a big opportunity to “get traction off of what should have been the easiest news cycle in the world for them,” and this was because of the recent government shutdown. On Tuesday, during the Obamacare rollout there were many technical difficulties on the federal health insurance exchange website and the state exchange websites. These websites gave the users error messages, the drop-down menus failed, and the system even went down in the early morning on Tuesday because of the heavy traffic. This would have been a great time for the GOP to “shine a spotlight” on what was going on with these websites, but instead they focused on the government shutdown.
Throughout this time there were a lot of stories about what happened with Obamacare, but because of the shutdown those stories went straight to the side lines. Instead of using all of these stories to back up their point that Obamacare is not ready to go out yet, there were Republicans who staged photo ops with some GOP negotiators and pretended to wait for the Democrats to come to the table. They also tried to figure out how to get out of our budget crisis. Many of Republicans regret doing this because this would have been a great time to derail Obamacare. Republican strategist Ron Bonjean, a Capitol Hill veteran even said that “The shutdown has completely gotten in the way of the message of Obamacare not working.” He also said that the Republicans should be focusing on the Obamacare rollout and not the government shutdown.
Hannah Call
NRA Takes Aim at California's Sweeping Gun Control Bill
On October 3, 2013, the National Rifle Association said it plans to sue the state of California if Governor Jerry Brown signs a bill approved by state lawmakers that would ban the future sale of most types of semi-automatic rifles that accept detachable magazines. The bill would outlaw an entire class of weapons which includes most assault rifles. The NRA's Institute for Legislative Action wrote in a post on its website that the bill is unconstitutional and "would make unprecedented changes to California’s already unjust and byzantine 'assault weapon' law."
The current law in California pertaining to assault rifles is that they can only be used for limited purposes and owners are not allowed to transfer them to anyone in the state. "Our right to keep and bear arms has never been as seriously threatened in California as it is today. After years of incrementally adopting gun control measures, this year the legislature decided to propose new laws adopting everything on the gun ban lobby’s wish list," the group said Tuesday. The governor has until Oct. 13 to either sign or veto the bills. People in California seem to really support gun violence-prevention, 61 percent of California voters say it’s more important to control guns and ammunition than to protect the rights of gun owners. I think they have a point with wanting gun control, but then again people do not like to have their rights taken from them and deserve to keep their rights.
Sam Paredes, executive director of Gun Owners of California, said “No question about it. The bill will make half of the rifles in existence ‘assault weapons,’ and make them illegal.” The assault weapons bill applies to most semi-automatic hunting rifles, as well as military-style rifles that have been used in mass slayings. The bill does exempt .22-caliber rim fire rifles. Everyone who owns the types of guns in the bill would have to register their weapons and can’t transfer them to other people. "That's like banning handguns. It's an entire class of guns that are being banned," Paredes said. In my opinion I agree with Paredes and think that the bill is absolutely stupid, and they should not force people to register their guns when they are not assault weapons.
This issue has been going on since the 1990’s when they turned down the bill. I have a feeling that they will continue to try and push this bill until it is passed. If this bill is passed than the people will realize that if they push enough the government will give them what they want. Also the people have a right to bear arms and this bill is trying to turn all guns into something bad and label them as assault weapons. In discussions about gun laws and gun politics in the United States, an assault weapon is most commonly defined as a semi-automatic firearm possessing certain cosmetic, ergonomic, or construction features similar to those of military firearms. People are trying to make it more than it needs to be and trying to turn it into a big deal. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/10/03/nra-takes-aim-at-california-sweeping-restrictions-on-guns-ammunition/
Brianna Parker
10-01-2013
Government Shutdown Begins: Congress Fails to Agree on Spending Bill
Parts of the federal government officially shut down Tuesday morning at 12:01. The congress has failed to come up with an agreement to fully fund normal operations. Late Monday night, President Obama signed the House and Senate’s bill assuring active-duty military personal will still continue to get paid throughout the shutdown. The president also said that the military will continue to stay on their normal duty status.
All the national parks will be closed to the public. Medicare payments, social security payments, and other mail will still continue to be delivered to Americans. Federal benefits applications will not be accepted during the shutdown. Things like the food-safety inspection will be suspended until further notice. Americans are also allowed to buy private health insurance coverage.
Democrats agree to pass a six-week spending bill to give the congress more time to make a decision. Republicans are staying with their decision to dismantle Obama care. Boehner’s spokesman said “Obamacare is costing jobs and that American families are being denied basic fairness when big businesses are getting exemptions that they are not”. Once the majority of the House comes to a conclusion the government will be back on track.
Jaquan
The National Park Service has been taking hits from Republicans for how it’s gone about shutting down the parks and monuments during the Government shutdown. Democratic lawmakers fiercely defended the agency’s actions. "If you want to spend your time here dissecting individual decisions about what monuments are open, which are closed, let me save you some time," said DeFazio, of Oregon, as he held up a mirror during Wednesday's hearing. "Our National Park System is surprisingly part of our government, which you shut down."
On Wednesday morning, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced a deal to end the government shutdown and avert a government default. But senate and house leaders were still negotiating how to move the package through both chambers and get it to the Presidents desk as soon as possible. The process was expedited to avoid controversy on the deal. That particular tactic is shady, but needed in this situation. After all, a government default would be devastating to the nation. An agreement was reached, and the shutdown is now over, and the president is now assessing the damage caused by the shutdown.