The government is now in its first closure since 2019. Also, there are few indications that either party will immediately succumb to the demands of the other side and will restore the lights.
But there are already signs that some Democrats might want to cave.
Hours before the midnight funding deadline, Senate Republicans blocked spending proposals from Democrats, 47-53. This will fund the government, extend subsidies for Affordable Care Act health plans, and give Obamacare exchanges the certainty they need before the November open registration.
Democrats responded by blocking the GOP bill and stealing the 60-vote House-wide law needed to advance in the Senate.
Still, not all Democrats are taking part in the leadership strategy of blocking the bill.
The three senators who voted with Republicans and Republicans on GOP funding measures and voted the final tally of 55-45 on Tuesday night were short of the 60 vote threshold, but are enough to show the party’s early division as the government shuts down.
Not all Democrats are involved in the leadership strategy of blocking bills.
The trio of Democrats who voted for Republicans were not entirely surprised. Maine Sen. Angus King is an independent king who conspires with Democrats, but the Democratic strategy appears to be undecided. He proposed to CNN on Tuesday that he was interested in the impact of shutting down the government.
“But I’m also concerned about the unilateral government impact,” King says of a clear reference to partisan’s way of drafting spending proposals for Republicans.
King said he voted to keep the government open.
Senator John Fetterman, who said Tuesday he would not vote for “a disruption that shuts down governments,” has made it much more clear that he has disapproved of the strategy of using shutdowns as a negotiation tip.
His suggestion to his democratic colleagues who wanted to change their healthcare policy was simple: “winning elections.”
Perhaps the biggest surprise among Democratic opponents, Nevada Sen. Katherine Cortez Mast joined King and Fetterman in support of the GOP proposal. After the vote, she told reporters she wanted to avoid a costly shutdown that “will harm Nevada and the power of her hand to a reckless administration.”
“We should work on bipartisan solutions to address the living healthcare crisis,” Cortez Masto said, referring to the increasing approach to Obamacare’s premium. “But that doesn’t mean we should then trade harm to a group of Americans.”
Other Senate Democrats voted against the GOP spending bill Tuesday night, but several other Democrats could soon become uncomfortable with the party’s strategy as the closure continues.
Ten Senate Democrats voted to move forward with a similar GOP spending bill in March, including New York’s minority Chuck Schumer. On Tuesday night there was a group of Democrats on the Senate floor and we discussed each other before finally voting for the Republican bill.
It included Chris Koons of Delaware, Reuben Gallego of Arizona, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, and Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire. Gillibrand, Hassan and Shaheen were among the 10 Democrats who voted to move forward with the GOP bill in March, and all three sounded unconclusive ahead of Tuesday’s vote.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump and Republicans have shown no indication that they will change their position. They argue that Democrats need to help with ongoing home-based solutions before they can negotiate about extending Obamacare grants.
Trump suggested on Tuesday that Democrats should be afraid that he and his administration will be able to do so while they are shut down.
“We can do things during irreversible and bad for them,” Trump said he could cut down on government workers and programs that Democrats prefer.
But for now, Schumer has expressed confidence in his democratic strategy.
Asked Tuesday night if he was worried about three members of his Democrats joining Republicans to support the GOP spending bill, Schumer denied.
“I’m worried about American healthcare,” he said. “That’s what we, the Democrats, are worried about.”
He noted that there will be a significant increase to Healthcare Premium, saying Democrats feel they are representing their members “in the best possible way.” And he asked if he could guarantee that more Democrats would not join the trio to support the GOP bill, he declined to question.
“Look, the bottom line, like I said, our assurance is that for the people of America we are going to fight as hard as we can for their health care,” he told reporters.
The bottom line, as I said, our assurance is for the American people to fight as hard as we can for their healthcare.
Senator Chuck Schumer
But one of the challenges for Democrats is that their problems with the GOP bill are less on the scale and more less on the list.
Democrats have many health-related demands, from things like rolling back Medicaid cuts in the GOP settlement bill to possible demands such as the Affordable Care Act tax credits that are due to expire at the end of the year. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, if these tax credits are not extended, premiums for millions of people will skyrocket.
The GOP contrast bill did not include any of these requests. Republicans want to extend Obamacare subsidies and say they will address the looming cliffs later in the year, apart from government fundraising. For example, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said the issue was “a policy issue in December, not a September funding issue.”
But Democrats have refused to delay conversations and are worried that Americans will choose to take health care when open enrollment begins on November 1st.
Some Senate Democrats were stripped off Tuesday, but the majority of party members are standing straight for leadership strategies, at least for now.
“There are 66 out of 91 pages dealing with healthcare issues. 67 out of 91 pages dealing with healthcare. Healthcare, the cost of healthcare, is paramount,” said Sen. Rosa Delauro, a top Democrat on the House Approximately Expenditure Committee, when MSNBC asked if it would be comfortable running the building closure.
“It’s about people being able to afford healthcare in this country,” she said. “We raised the premium in a few weeks. People can’t afford it. Come to the table. Let’s negotiate. We’ve been able to do it for years with our Republican colleagues.
