It seemed like a \u201cno-brainer\u201d to Republicans in Congress.\u00a0\u00a0The \u201cbattle\u201d over health-care was already won.\u00a0\u00a0Cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act were \u201cin stone\u201d in the \u201cBig Beautiful Bill\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0The huge savings, over $1.4 Trillion, would go to the Republican cornerstone policy, reducing taxes.\u00a0\u00a0Those reductions would be negligible for lower income families, but for those in the billionaire and multi-millionaire class, it\u2019s big bucks.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Congress has a two-part system of implementing laws.\u00a0\u00a0When I was teaching the process back in the \u201cold days\u201d of Senior Government Class, I explained it this way.\u00a0\u00a0To build a dam, it requires a bill to pass the House, Senate and get signed by the President.\u00a0\u00a0Only then would the \u201cdam\u201d bill become a \u201cdam\u201d law.\u00a0\u00a0But to pay for that \u201cdam\u201d law, there has to be a \u201cdam money law\u201d passed as well; an appropriation of money for the dam.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s a two-part process.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Republicans ran up against the budget bill (a money law), including the income tax reductions in the \u201cBig, Beautiful, Bill\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Instead of having a whole budget battle, they\u00a0\u00a0simply asked for a continuing resolution of existing spending.\u00a0\u00a0That budget bill would just continue things as they already are, including the Big, Beautiful tax reductions, for a few months.\u00a0\u00a0Without passage, there is no \u201cmoney law\u201d to run the government, and most government spending and activity is shutdown.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Democrats saw a chance to exercise some real power.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0While the House of Representatives is a simple majority to pass a bill (Republicans have a five vote majority), in the Senate there is a process that requires sixty votes to end debate (called cloture), before a vote can be taken on the actual \u201cbill\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There are fifty-three Republicans in the Senate, so they need seven more votes to end debate, before they can pass the continuing resolution by a simple majority vote.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Leader of the Senate, saw a chance to actually make a difference.\u00a0\u00a0He stopped the budget bill, demanding that the medical cuts of the \u201cBig, Beautiful Bill\u201d get put back in.\u00a0\u00a0How could he go wrong?\u00a0\u00a0Many folks will see the results of those cuts on their annual insurance cost statements, due on their kitchen table at the end of October.\u00a0\u00a0That is especially true for those folks on Medicaid or with Affordable Care Act insurance, who will see huge increases.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It’s a \u201cwin-win\u201d for the Democrats.\u00a0\u00a0They\u2019re fighting to keep health costs lower.\u00a0\u00a0If they win, and those costs stay about the same, and Democrats actually got something done for the people, even without control of the House, Senate, or the Presidency.\u00a0\u00a0And if they fail, then Republicans are fully responsible for the dramatic increases in costs.\u00a0\u00a0That will be an albatross around their neck in the 2026 Congressional elections, perhaps the key to Democrats regaining a majority in the House and maybe even the Senate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Republicans tried to counter by mis-directing the argument to one they are much more comfortable with, undocumented migrants.\u00a0\u00a0Republicans are confident that attacking the undocumented is a winning strategy.\u00a0\u00a0They\u2019ve committed billions of dollars to funding the ICE round-ups, and are trying to place Democrats in the position of defending folks that aren\u2019t legally in the US and can\u2019t vote in elections.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The problem for Republicans, is that very little government money actually goes to support undocumented migrant health.\u00a0\u00a0In fact, there are clear laws against doing so.\u00a0\u00a0So, after the first flush of \u201cillegals getting government health insurance\u201d passed by, most Americans understood that it was a dodge, a side issue.\u00a0\u00a0They sat around their kitchen tables and calculated how much more of their limited income would go to insurance costs, or worse, direct medical costs.\u00a0\u00a0And they don\u2019t like it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So here we are.\u00a0\u00a0Republicans are doing the \u201cboiling frog\u201d routine.\u00a0\u00a0They are sitting in a pot of rising insurance costs, and the heat is going up.\u00a0\u00a0They can either find a way to jump out before the pot boils, or they can get stewed in the November 2026 elections.\u00a0\u00a0And Democrats can keep saying, \u201cWell, you have all the majorities.\u00a0\u00a0You are in charge.\u00a0\u00a0You can fix all of this\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0No one really is listening to the arcane mechanics of Senate cloture motions.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n