By Mary O’KEEFE

No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it. – Albert Einstein

As of midnight Sept. 30, the United States government shut down. That meant that 800,000 government workers are on unpaid furloughs, national parks are shut down (a not so Happy Birthday for Yosemite) and a variety of government offices are closed.

On Tuesday, Rep. Adam Schiff released the following statement after the House refused to pass a “clean” continuing resolution, that is clean of any riders defunding or changing Obamacare:

“Tonight, the House Majority failed to fulfill one of Congress’ most basic obligations – to pay the bills on time and keep the lights on. It’s my hope that in the coming hours and days, cooler heads within the House Republican Conference will prevail, and we will be able to pass a clean bill to fund the government while we work towards a long-term budget,” Schiff stated. “We cannot continue to engage in these ‘my way or the highway’ exercises month after month – enough is enough.”

Rep. Schiff’s frustration is clear and is echoed throughout the country. The Senate Democrats and House Republicans could not reach an agreement on a spending bill that would have kept the government operating.

The Republicans in the House would only agree to a spending bill that included the delay of a key part of the Affordable Health Care Act that went into affect on Oct. 1.

“The Affordable Health Care Act was passed by Congress, signed by the President, upheld by the Supreme Court,” Schiff said on the floor of the House on Wednesday as seen on CSPAN. “Democrats are willing to entertain improvements to this landmark law but we are not interested in seeking to undermine or destroy it.”

This is the first government shut down since 1995-96, which lasted 21 days. It is not known if this will last as long; however, Washington has not been in a negotiating mood and it doesn’t look to be changing anytime soon.     Republican National Committee, Tea Party and Democrat Committee websites are all blaming each other for the government closure while at the Libertarian website a different take on the shut down is being shared.

“There is no impending government shutdown – only a government slowdown. The threat of a ‘shutdown’ is designed to scare voters while avoiding scrutiny of reckless government overspending,” stated the press release from the Libertarian Party.

They view the shut down of the government with a “glass half full” philosophy stating that the slow down will save the government money because it’s spending less money.

“In other words, a federal slowdown – if allowed to take full effect – would balance the federal budget. This would greatly benefit the U.S. economy,” stated the release.

In the meantime, the American people are still wondering how long, and how much, this shut down will affect them.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory website was one of the first signs of the shut down.

“Due to the lapse in federal government funding, this website is not being updated,” states the JPL website.

The website and Twitter releases are coordinated by NASA, a victim of the shutdown.

The extent of how JPL/NASA will be affected will be determined by the length of the shut down. At present, the Mars Science Laboratory is continuing its daily activities.

For more information, click on the QR Code. CNN has an extensive look at what offices are open, partially open and closed. Visit their website below for that list.

http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2013/09/politics/government-shutdown-impact/.

In the meantime, perhaps Washington should take a cue from another Washington insider:

“Public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it nothing can succeed.” -Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln/Douglas debate at Ottawa.

  Mary Okeefe