At midnight on October 1, the House of Representatives and the Senate failed to come up with an agreement on a budget based on President Obama’s Affordable Health Care Act, also known as “Obamacare.” The discrepancy resulted in a partial government shutdown. Federal employees nationwide were no longer receiving paychecks for their labor, students couldn’t do research from government funded websites, and other students who were interested in a military based career after high school couldn’t apply.
Senior Thaddeus Brown has particpated in the JROTC program throughout his time in high school and has high hopes of being accepted at the Naval Academy. However, as a result of the shutdown, Brown wasn’t able to take his mandatory medical examination. Scheduled to take the examination in October, Brown already completed the remainder of the ten step application process.
“About a week before I was supposed to go to the exam, I got an email from Concorde [the government contractor who provides and pays for the doctors for the examination] saying that because of the government shutdown and lack of funds, I would not be able to complete my exam if the government was still shut down on the day of my scheduled examination,” Brown said. “Luckily, about two days before I was supposed to have my exam [Oct. 11], I received an email from the government-contracted doctor that said he would still conduct my exam despite the lack of funding.”
On Wednesday, Oct. 16, a bill passed through the Senate, the House Of Representatives, and President Obama’s approval and the government shutdown came to a temporary end. The bill keeps the government running until Jan. 15 and furloughed (those who had permitted absence) federal workers received back pay, meaning that they would receive payment for previous work.
“If I had to reschedule my examination, I would have been angry because getting your application in early is advantageous,” Brown said. “I felt relieved when the shutdown ended because of the hassle it caused me.”
