MELANIE SLOCUM
PRIDE STAFF WRITER

With less than two hours to spare, Congressional heads and President Barack Obama avoided a government shutdown by creating a temporary budget deal, which cuts $38 billion from federal spending, on Friday, April 8. The dramatic negotiation process concerned many citizens who feared total government shutdown as funding would have stopped at midnight last Friday if lawmakers failed to reach an agreement. After meeting into late hours Friday night, lawmakers and White House negotiators agreed on an arrangement to fund government operations until the end of September while still trimming billions from its previous budget. President Obama, Senate Majority leader Harry Reid and House Speaker John Boehner negotiated the agreement. As first reported by the Associated Press, President Obama signed the measure Saturday, April 9, but it still requires Congressional approval, which is set to happen during this week. According to the Associated Press, initially, “the administration was poised to shutter federal services, from national parks to tax-season help centers and to send furlough notices to hundreds of thousands of federal workers,” which aids to explain the long negotiations that lasted to the last hours of the deadline. The agreement tested the strength of America’s divided government as Republicans and Democrats searched for common ground under a time constraint. As first reported by the New York Times, Boehner described the negotiation process as “a lot of discussion and a long fight.” In his address to the nation, President Obama remarked that the deal is “a budget that invests in our future while making the largest annual spending cut in our history.” He continued to emphasize the importance of Americans “living within [their] means” as an investment in future job markets. Republican initiatives to reduce funding to Planned Parenthood and ease environmental regulations caused much of the censure in negotiating. While these initiatives proved unsuccessful in the negotiation, many citizens were concerned for the fate of these federal programs. One in five women have made a visit to Planned Parenthood. With CSUSM being approximately 61 percent female, the community could easily have felt these effects.

CSUSM’s Student Health and Counseling Services, though not directly tied to Planned Parenthood, offers similar services and is funded through the state and student fees. Because of its alternate sources of funding, Student Health and Counseling Services would still provide reproductive health and education services should Planned Parenthood cease to exist.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia