共和党人希望借此机会向奥巴马医改发难,但最终奥巴马决不让步的坚定让共和党黯然失色,反而进一步加剧了共和党内部的分化。众议院内立场坚定的保守派议员们和一些务实的共和党人几乎出现了公开的分裂,迫使党团领导层两次撤销了原本计划提出的方案,第二次时甚至要求议员们回家等待来自党团领导层关于周三到底应该如何行事的决定。众议院议长,来自俄亥俄州的共和党人约翰-博纳(John A. Boehner)由于未能有效控制局面,在这场两党之战后恐怕只能徒留虚名。
For many furloughed federal employees, their Oct. 11 paychecks may be half their usual amount, and the last for a while. Many workers had already cut back after across-the-board budget reductions known as sequestration resulted in mandatory, unpaid leaves earlier this year.