There is one point that many who are angry about the 8 Democratic caucus senators who caved on the shutdown are glossing over. Republicans wanted one year of government funding. Republicans in Congress floated the idea of funding the government for three years.
Republicans in the House and Senate ended up getting 81 days of funding.
That’s it. Eighty-one days, which is not even three months.
No one will say it out loud, but my deep suspicion is that the eight Democrats convinced themselves to cave because they didn’t want the shutdown to last through the holidays.
Those eight Democrats didn’t want chaos at airports over Thanksgiving weekend. They didn’t want stories about federal employees who can’t buy Christmas presents, or families getting their holiday meals from food banks. Newsflash for those Democrats: because of high grocery prices, many families who receive SNAP are also having to use food banks in order to get enough food to survive.
The “deal” that the eight Senate Democrats made funded SNAP for a year and secured a Senate vote on restoring the Obamacare subsidies.
The problem is that the deal doesn’t include the House.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune told Scripps News:
NEW: Sen. Majority Leader THUNE tells scrippsnews he has NOT spoken to Speaker Johnson ‘recently’ on whether House will vote on any Senate bill to extend ACA subsidies. THUNE: “My commitment was to have that vote here, and they’ll have to figure out what to do in the House…”
Eight Senate Democrats sold out 24 million Americans on the healthcare issue to get a vote that won’t happen in both the House and the Senate.
For all of the dramatic conclusions being drawn by some, it is important to remember that the fight is far from over.
Keep reading below for more of the story.
