Democratic Unity Breaks Down - Senate Democrats Cave
But are we out of the shutdown mess yet?
Sunday night, the Senate voted 60–40 to reopen the government. Eight centrist Democrats reached a deal with Republican leaders in exchange for a promise to vote on extending enhanced Affordable Care subsidies—without which, Affordable Care would not be affordable for millions of Americans.
This doesn’t mean the government is open yet. As of this writing (Sunday night into early Monday), there are still steps to take. A single senator can delay consideration of the package for several days. And the House has to return and approve the Senate deal before it reaches President Trump’s desk.
The impact of the shutdown is being felt all across the country. The biggest hit is to air travel. Even if the government reopens early this week, flights will remain snarled from the domino effect of cancellations over the weekend.
This follows a confounding fight over SNAP benefits for November. A court ordered the Trump administration to use contingency funds to pay for SNAP—something Trump has fought even as he spends leisure time at golf courses, attends Great Gatsby parties, posts pictures of bathroom remodels, and tears down the East Wing. The administration appealed to the Supreme Court for an emergency ruling, and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson granted a temporary hold on the lower court’s order.
Never before has a presidential administration fought so hard—or spent so much time and effort—to stop feeding hungry Americans who depend on those benefits to survive.
The timeline here will move far too slowly for many. The House has to wrangle over it before Trump can sign it—if he signs it. At this point, in this atmosphere, who knows if he will—or if he’ll find some reason to come out against it.
The full tally of damage from this, the longest shutdown in U.S. history, will take time to assess. Until then, another crack—a big one—has appeared in our democratic institutions.
The worst damage, though, is to health care for low-income Americans. A promise of a later vote is just that: a promise. And we’ve learned over the past decade that promises aren’t worth much. Even if there is a vote, Republicans seem determined to kill Obamacare at all costs—even after 15 years of failing to produce a replacement. One suspects they never intended to.