Senate Democrats Cave Again as Party Leaders Rage Against Schumer
The U.S. Senate made a huge step toward reopening the government on Sunday night when several Senate Democrats gave in and joined Republicans in their effort to adopt a new proposal to end the closure.
As the day went on, it became more and more evident that the shutdown, which was now in its 40th day, would be coming to an end. This was especially true when senators revealed a bipartisan bundle of spending bills that they intend to attach to a modified plan to reopen the government.
Eight Democrats in the Senate voted with Republicans to end the shutdown, which was the first stage in the GOP’s plan. Many of the legislators who broke away from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., were part of conversations between Republicans and Democrats over the past few weeks.
Senators Angus King (I-Maine), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the second most powerful Democrat in the Senate, were among those who left.
“The question was, does the shutdown further the goal of achieving some needed support for the extension of the tax credits? Our judgment was that it will not,” King said. “It would not produce that result. And the evidence for that is almost seven weeks of fruitless attempts to make that happen.”
Schumer and other Senate Democrats have said for a long time that they would only vote to reopen the government if there was a real deal to extend Obamacare subsidies that were about to run out.
However, they caved on Sunday and gave in to the Republicans.
There were some wins in the updated continuing resolution (CR), like making sure that furloughed workers got their back pay and undoing some of the firings that the Trump administration had made.
However, there was no clear victory in sight on the Obamacare problem.
That means Senate Democrats gave up on their healthcare push with not much to show for it. The only thing they got was a promise from Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., that there would be a vote on the payments, which was reflected in the new CR.
Thune was optimistic that the plan would work and reiterated his promise of a vote on the expiring subsidies. However, whatever legislation is produced to address the Obamacare issue is likely to fail.
“Regardless, as I have said for weeks to my Democrat friends, I will schedule a vote on their proposal, and I’ve committed to having that vote no later than the second week in December,” he said.
Progressives in the party were also unhappy with what was going on.
It would be a “horrific mistake” for Democrats to give up now without an Obamacare deal, said Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont.
“If Democrats cave on this issue, what it will say to Donald Trump is that he has a green light to go forward toward authoritarianism,” Sanders said. “And I think that would be a tragedy for this country.”
Still, there’s a long way to go before the government reopens for real.
The Senate needed to pass a series of votes on Sunday to change the original continuing resolution that was passed by the House and combine it with the three-bill spending deal and the updated CR. If passed, the government would be open again until January 30, 2026.
If lawmakers are given more time, they hope to be able to finish funding the government with spending bills instead of passing another CR or a huge omnibus spending package, which combines all 12 government funding bills into one bill.
And there won’t be an end to the shutdown in the Senate because the House has to agree to the changes to the bill before it can get to President Trump.
Democrats could still cause trouble through procedural problems unless all 100 senators agree at once to move forward with the final votes.
