To make clear my position, I am against the ACA in its entirety, though I do not approve of either dems or republicans threatening a shutdown of the gov't over its repeal. The over 40 times tried before failed to clear the senate, so it makes it seem more like grandstanding for his own personal and political gain to be doing this. It also has very publicly exposed rifts within the conservative ranks and could cause divides and infighting that have already cost conservatives at local, state and federal levels in the recent elections. I know most don't think it's a big deal for the gov't to shut down or for people to be furloughed, but the ones that are going to be in a nonpay status won't be Congress, POTUS, executive schedule employees, air traffic controllers or other higher paid people. The ones furloughed will be the park and forest rangers, clerks, accountants, Indian reservation teachers, people making in the 30k-50k range that will be impacted much harder than the "essential" air traffic controllers making 100k, or congressmen making 174k.