It’s week two of the government shutdown and there still has been no compromise between the Democrats and Republicans.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, mostly known as Obamacare, is a health insurance reform law passed by the United States Congress in 2010. The main purpose of this law is to improve health coverage for Americans by giving easy access to public health plans, by requiring persons to buy private insurance, and by improving the insurance industry.

The deadline to make this law legal again was this past Oct. 1. Since Congress could not come to an agreement to pass Obamacare for the 2014 fiscal year, the bill was held from getting passed which caused the government to shut down. The last government shutdown was 17 years ago.

During this shutdown no one is allowed to visit national museums or monuments, visit the Capitol, check to see if an employee is legal or not, and you can not get a new small business loan. However, you can still do a few things such as getting the mail, getting help from 911, go on planes, and apply for Medicare and Social Security benefits.

Staff member Murray Carlisle criticized the government shutdown saying, “I wish that both sides could work with one and other and compromise. [Congress needs to] come up with a solution to benefit both sides to end this ridiculous government shutdown.”

Kati McKee, also a staff member, stated, “It’s time for [Congress] to quit playing politics with [the government] and arguing about a law that’s already put in place.”