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Uprising’s guest expert Rose Aguilar, op-ed writer for Al Jazeera English, and host of Your Call on KALW in San Francisco, analyzes today’s news headlines:

Members of Congress fail to come to an agreement over funding the government as hundreds of thousands of federal workers find out whether to remain at work today. For the first time since 1996, the US government is facing a shut down after both houses of Congress could not agree on a spending bill to fund basic services by a midnight deadline last night. The sticking point is the desire of House Republicans to defund the Affordable Care Act whose most important milestone went into effect today. President Obama addressed reporters yesterday saying Republicans are trying to “save face after making some impossible promises to the extreme right wing of their party.” Obama will also make a speech today about the shutdown. A last ditch effort in the House version of the bill last night would have delayed the individual mandate aspect of Obamacare for a year while also stripping lawmakers and their staffers of their government-funded healthcare. Click here for a Washington Post article about the story.

Thousands of LA County workers are walking off their jobs today in what is being called the “biggest public employee action in decades.” About 55,000 municipal workers with SEIU Local 721, whose contract expired last night, are upset about contract negotiations that they say have left them without a raise in years. There will be a rally at 9 am this morning at the California Plaza in downtown LA and a march to the LA County Board of Supervisors meeting. Click here for an LA Times article about the story.

Thirty DREAM activists attempted to cross legally into the US from Mexico as part of the latest escalation by immigrant rights activists to draw attention to the broken immigration system. The students, wearing their caps and gowns, had either been deported or voluntarily left, and wanted to return to a place they consider home. They have now been taken into custody and it remains to be seen whether their fate will be similar to a group of 9 who were released and allowed to remain in the US this past August while pursuing residency. Click here for a Guardian newspaper article about the story.