We will not give in to Republican blackmail. Barack Obama thus responds to his political opponents and promises to do everything possible to overcome the "shutdown", the closure of the federal state. Without an agreement on the budget, the state machine, left without funds, has in fact jammed, but the president is not giving up. At the heart of the clash between the White House and the Republicans is, once again, the health care reform wanted by the president.
“If you get cancer – said Obama, from the Rose Garden – you have a 70% greater chance of surviving for five years if you have insurance than if you don't. Think about it. It's a matter of life or death. Tens of thousands of Americans die every year just because they don't have insurance. Millions live in fear of going broke if they get sick. And today we begin to free millions of Americans from this fear.
Without the funds for the federal state, however, all services considered 'non-essential' have been cut: perhaps they are not as important as the right to health, but they still cost the jobs of 800.000 state employees, who immediately lost their jobs in the aftermath of the shutdown.
The Republicans had for their part tried to block the so-called 'Obamacare' by giving the green light to the funds. In exchange, however, they asked for the health reform to be postponed by one year. But the head of the White House did not want to give in to blackmail, however declaring himself to CNBC "absolutely exasperated: either I tell 20 million people that they can no longer have health insurance, or the government will remain closed: this means being irresponsible". The president also warned Wall Street: "This time there's something to worry about."
