Last Tuesday Democrats began their electoral comeback.\u00a0\u00a0The election results in many parts of the Nation, from New Jersey to California to Mississippi, were overwhelmingly in the Democrat\u2019s favor.\u00a0\u00a0And Democrats were able to turn blame for the ongoing Government shutdown onto the Republicans.\u00a0\u00a0A majority of the Nation saw Republicans at fault, not only for the shutdown itself, but for the looming threat of increased insurance costs.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In effect, last week was a very bad week for Republicans, and for the President, maybe the \u201cworst\u201d week of the second Trump Presidency. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, why did eight Democratic Senators flip last night, and join with Republicans to push a budget resolution forward; the beginning of the end of the shutdown?\u00a0\u00a0That in spite of their failure to get the sole demand they asked for:\u00a0\u00a0continued funding for the Affordable Care Act.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Back in the spring, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer allowed Trump\u2019s \u201cBig, Beautiful Bill\u201d to go to the floor for a Senate vote.\u00a0\u00a0Instead of using the filibuster to stop it, he depended on a few Republicans to \u201ccross-over\u201d and vote against the Bill, denying it a simple majority.\u00a0\u00a0It ultimately passed though, a tie in the Senate with Vice President Vance casting the tiebreaking vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Schumer took a great deal of \u201cheat\u201d for not requiring the filibuster, a sixty vote passing margin, and shutting down the Government.\u00a0\u00a0But, at the time, Schumer noted that a closed Government gave the President even more power to cut jobs and redistribute funding.\u00a0\u00a0He was unwilling to take that risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And that\u2019s just what we\u2019ve seen in this current shutdown.\u00a0\u00a0The Trump Administration continues to pay for their \u201cpriority\u201d issues, including the payment of ICE officers.\u00a0\u00a0The US Military is getting paid as well.\u00a0\u00a0But many other areas that directly impact US citizens, including the Air Traffic Controllers and TSA agents, were required to work, without pay (they presumably will be paid back once the government reopens).\u00a0\u00a0Even more government employees were furloughed, with no guarantee of repayment, effectively unemployed.\u00a0\u00a0And then, Trump stepped in to prevent November SNAP benefits (the Food Stamp Program) from being distributed, even though the funds were available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And that became the \u201cHobson\u2019s Choice\u201d for some Democrats in the Senate.\u00a0\u00a0As Democratic Senator Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire bluntly put it:\u00a0\u00a0\u201cTrump forced us to choose between sick kids and hungry kids\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The eight cross-overs (seven Democrats and Independent Angus King of Maine) did extract several concessions from the Republican majority.\u00a0\u00a0They include repayment for government officials required to work without pay, reinstatement of workers fired during the shutdown, and the end of further federal job cuts.\u00a0\u00a0It also guaranteed SNAP funding in the future.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But they didn\u2019t get the Affordable Care Act funding.\u00a0\u00a0The Senators did get a promise of a vote on that funding, one that will force Republicans to go on the record for increased insurance costs (if they vote against).\u00a0\u00a0It won\u2019t likely fix the insurance problem, but it will firmly fix the blame soaring costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The question is:\u00a0\u00a0did Democrats snatch defeat from the jaws of victory?\u00a0\u00a0Or, did Chuck Schumer find a way out of what was going to be an impossible situation.\u00a0\u00a0SNAP benefits were not getting paid. People were facing real hunger.\u00a0\u00a0US transportation (particularly air) was snarled, delayed and cancelled with the holiday season coming. And millions of government employees were unpaid.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Is this another Democratic \u201cfailure\u201d, or did Democrats get exactly what they wanted?\u00a0\u00a0We now have a clear choice of \u201cwho\u2019s to blame\u201d when it comes to rising insurance rates, unpaid government workers and even hungry kids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Schumer himself voted against the deal.\u00a0\u00a0But the \u201ctell\u201d is the vote of Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, the second most powerful Democratic Senator (the minority whip).\u00a0\u00a0Schumer is the \u201cface\u201d of the Democrats in the Senate. But\u00a0Durbin holds the \u201cwhip hand\u201d, the \u201cmuscle\u201d of the Party.\u00a0\u00a0He provided the final vote, the eighth, to end the filibuster and begin to reopen the government.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s likely that this was, in part, Schumer\u2019s plan, even though two Senators from New Hampshire took the lead role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So what happens next?\u00a0\u00a0The Government is NOT open.\u00a0\u00a0The Senate has NOT voted on the resolution to reopen it, and may not for a few days.\u00a0\u00a0The House of Representatives is NOT even in session.\u00a0\u00a0Speaker Johnson will need to call his Republican members back from their six week vacation (the Democrats never left).\u00a0\u00a0And the \u201cdeal\u201d the Senate made hasn\u2019t been confirmed by the whole Senate, or either the House or the President.\u00a0\u00a0So, until there\u2019s an agreement between all three, nothing is certain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Except for one thing.\u00a0\u00a0Whatever the fate of this deal, it has firmly set the stage for the 2026 election campaign:\u00a0\u00a0advantage Democrats.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0If the shutdown continued, it may have turned to a \u201cpox on both your houses\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Schumer may have snatched victory from the jaws of catastrophe. We\u2019ll know in about a year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"