After the longest shutdown in U.S. history, the federal government finally looks like it’s on the legislative path toward reopening — but only after eight Senate Democrats crossed the aisle to back a Republican spending bill that does nothing to address expiring subsidies for the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
The eight Democrats who voted with Republicans insist they got the best deal possible. The rest of their colleagues in the Democratic Caucus seem to think they got played — and they’re furious.
“I voted no just because I’m so pissed off,” Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., said Sunday night. He said he was “frustrated” that Democrats had given Republicans every chance to negotiate throughout the shutdown, “and they wouldn’t do it.”
And yet, those eight Senate Democrats rewarded Republicans with their support.
After the procedural vote on Sunday night, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said he knew there were a lot of angry people who just watched a handful of Democrats join Republicans.
“There’s no way to defend this,” Murphy said. “And you are right to be angry about it. I’m angry about it.”
“This is not the way that I wanted this to go, nor the way that most Americans wanted this to go,” Murphy told reporters on Sunday night.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., aimed his fury at the decision of those eight Democrats, calling it “a very, very bad vote.”
After holding out for 40 days, those eight Senate Democrats — a mix of retiring lawmakers, senators not up for reelection this cycle and independent Angus King of Maine, who caucuses with the Democrats — broke from the rest of their party to advance debate on the Republican funding package. Once amended, the legislation will include three full-year spending bills, a stopgap measure to fund the remaining parts of the government through Jan. 30, and language reversing the mass layoffs of government employees ordered during the shutdown and preventing any firings through January.
In return, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., promised Democrats a vote on a bill of their choosing to extend the expiring Obamacare subsidies, though it seems doubtful the legislation will ultimately pass the Senate or even get a vote in the House.
Waiting another week, or another month, wouldn’t deliver a better outcome.”
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H.
By breaking ranks, the eight Democrats effectively stripped their caucus of leverage to force an extension of the health care tax credits — and decided, on their own, how the party’s shutdown strategy would end.
It came as a shock to most Democrats.
But the defectors argued that this compromise was the best offer they were going to get. Before the shutdown, they noted, Republicans hadn’t even agreed to bring such a bill to the floor. Now, at least, Democrats would get a vote — even if the outcome seems doubtful.
During a press conference on Sunday night, seemingly taking a victory lap for supporting the Republican funding bill, five of the eight Democrats framed their decision as simple pragmatism.
“The sum is: We are closer to the possibility of work on the ACA tax credits for the people of this country than we were yesterday, and than we were a week ago, two weeks ago, or a month ago,” King said. “So this agreement tonight is a win for the American people, and it’s a win for those people that are so insistent that I’m hearing from all the time.”
“Waiting another week, or another month, wouldn’t deliver a better outcome,” said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., one of the leaders of the group of eight. “It would only mean more harm for families in New Hampshire and all across the country.”
And Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., who said he was the last Democrat to join the coalition, told reporters that Democrats needed to change their strategy. “After 40 days, it wasn’t gonna work,” Kaine said.
Still, the opinions of those eight Democrats mattered very little to most other members of their party.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., came out forcefully against the Senate deal, arguing that House Democrats would not support a GOP spending bill that “fails to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits.”
On Monday, he told reporters the eight Democrats who broke ranks are “going to have to explain themselves to their constituents and the American people.” Notably, the backlash even spilled into one senator’s own family. Stefany Shaheen — a House candidate and the daughter of Sen. Jeanne Shaheen — publicly opposed the agreement her mother helped craft. “Improving health care has been the cause of my life. It’s why I am running for Congress,” Stefany Shaheen said in a statement. “So I cannot support this deal when Speaker Johnson refuses to even allow a vote to extend health care tax credits.” “We need to both end this shutdown and extend the ACA tax credits. Otherwise, no deal,” she added. That remains a central complaint from Democratic critics: Even if the Senate passes a bill, there’s no guarantee the House will take it up. When MSNBC asked Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., last week if he would guarantee House Democrats a vote on Obamacare subsidies by a certain date — as Thune did for his Democratic colleagues — Johnson was unequivocal: “No.” “Because we did our job and I’m not part of the negotiation,” the speaker said. “The House did its job on Sept. 19,” he added. “I’m not promising anybody anything. I’m gonna let this process play out.” Johnson reiterated that position during a private conference call on Monday, according to a source on the call. While he said he hadn’t ruled out a future vote, he insisted he would first consult with his conference. It’s important to note, though, that if a subsidy extension somehow passed the Senate, there would likely be enough Republican votes in the House to pass the bill as well, and lawmakers could then use a discharge petition to cut out the speaker. The Democrats who extracted Thune’s concession only got him to commit to a vote with a 60-vote threshold, meaning they’ll have to find 13 Republicans to join all Democrats to support an extension. That seems unlikely. But again, the eight Democrats who sided with Republicans argued there was value in forcing a vote. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto — one of the three Senate Democrats who voted with Republicans throughout the shutdown — said that if Republicans wouldn’t “come to the table” to negotiate on the Obamacare subsidies, “they will own the fact that Americans across this country are going to lose access to health care.” “We have an opportunity also to put Republicans on the record on the ACA,” she said.
Mychael Schnell is a reporter for MS NOW. Recommended
