That’s the game folks; it was great for the fleeting moment U.S. Senate Democrats had an inkling, dare I say, a taste of power during the government shutdown. In truly classic fashion Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), along with Senators Angus King (I-ME), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Tim Kaine (D-VA), John Fetterman (D-PA), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) and Jacky Rosen (D-NV), folded like cheap suits when it came to defending Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies for millions of Americans.
What is the gift they so graciously handed Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), one of epic proportions? Offered to senators on Oct. 1 was a Continuing Resolution (CR) bill that would keep the U.S. government open until January 2026, with language that had deep cuts to ACA subsidies that would affect roughly 22 million Americans, according to CBS.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senate Democrats took a stand on defending those healthcare subsidies, drawing a line in the sand and not budging. They utilized classic Republican tactics, but not nearly as effectively. In the lead-up and immediately after the beginning of the shutdown, Republicans made it clear the original CR would have to pass. Initially, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) said he would not reconvene the House until the original CR was passed, and President Donald Trump repeatedly suggested he would not sign anything other than the original.
Schumer had the messaging campaign all square, placing the blame on Republicans and Trump for not negotiating with Senate Democrats on the CR. These are the same obstructionist tactics that Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) used in 2008 to slow policy down during the rise of the Tea Party caucus.
At this point it seems like Senate Dems have a masochistic fetish; every time Republicans spit in their eye, they say ‘thank you.’ Never standing for what they believe in and this time we got the worst of both worlds. The passage of the current CR left out renewal of ACA subsidies because of a ‘promise’ to hold a vote before the end of the year by Senate Republicans. This also left out Medicare/Medicaid funding that would support vital rural hospitals like Upper Connecticut Valley Hospital in Colebrook, N.H. that provide life-saving services to communities that are now going to struggle.
In lieu of providing support to struggling Americans, they passed a bill with no subsidies but a promise of a vote and included language giving Senate Republicans who had their phone logs subpoenaed during the January 6th hearing the ability to sue the U.S. Department of Justice for $500,000 in reparations.
Know these names when health insurance premiums spike for working-class Americans in the months. Know them when folks start losing or dropping insurance because of the cost. Remember them during their next election; these are politicians who cannot take the heat. Republicans held the government hostage over helping Americans afford outrageous healthcare costs in the wealthiest country in the history of the world. They threatened to put millions of SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) recipients on a starvation diet and held funds illegally. This left it to a federal appeals court judge to issue a ruling forcing the administration to use emergency funds, which are specifically in place for this purpose.
Schumer needs to resign, he obviously cannot control his caucus as senate minority leader and he certainly cannot lead. We need more robust and competent leadership that is willing to challenge republicans with a taste of their own medicine. Shaheen should retire in shame, never to be heard from again; she even dared to go on Fox News the following day to defend herself. You make yourself and the Democratic Party look like fools for holding out on demands for 43 days, then go to save face on conservative news networks after getting nothing out of it. That is an insult to our intelligence as voters. Her daughter Stephany Shaheen even publicly disagreed with the deal.
55 percent of Democrats believe that the party did not hold out sufficiently in the shutdown standoff, according to a CBS News survey; we need to let that inform our approach to the midterm elections. This is not 1992 anymore and democratic politicians being feckless wimps in the face of adversity is not going to fly. Michelle Obama said, “When they go low, we go high.” It was not true then and is not true now. When they go low, we go low; it is well past time to fight fire with fire.
Timothy Fitzpatrick can be contacted at
tfitzpatrick@kscequinox.com
