Finally, after nine months of Donald Trump running rampant over much in the government they hold dear, Democrats in Congress have found the ground on which to fight.
Pressed to vote for a Republican plan to keep the government open through mid-November, Democrats balked, and instead laid out a series of demands that amounted to the undoing of much of what the GOP has accomplished over the past year.
It was a nonstarter for Republicans and, after days of bluster and fruitless voting, the government tipped into a shutdown just after midnight on Wednesday. For Democrats, that may have been the point – pummeled by voters last November, the party has been looking for opportunities to remake its case to Americans.
Here’s my problem. What are Democrats looking to get from this? All I’ve heard is ACA subsidies. Extending the subsidies is a bandaid that I guarantee Republicans would absolutely love to be “forced” to implement. If they just drop 15 million poor folks (many of whom likely voted Republican) from Medicaid, and double the price of ACA healthcare for another 15 million, those poor constituents might take notice while Republicans continue to skullfuck the American healthcare system.
Alright, so let’s say they win some concessions. This administration has been given a green light by the current sham of a Supreme Court to undermine and ignore Congress’s ability to control the budget via “pocket rescission”. The administration can just… not spend the money as it was appropriated by Congress. A budget passing Congress for X spending on Y doesn’t mean that X will be spent on Y if the Trump administration doesn’t want to.
Why make a deal if the other side has been blessed with the ability to legally ignore it?