The Democrats were furious Monday over eight senators who caved to support a deal to end the government shutdown that does not include the Affordable Care Act subsidies their party had spent weeks fighting for.
The offending lawmakers include Democratic Senators Dick Durbin, Tim Kaine, Jacky Rosen, John Fetterman, Catherine Cortez Masto, Maggie Hassan, Jeanne Shaheen, and independent Senator Angus King, who claimed that they’d ensured a Senate vote on extending the tax credits. Their capitulation comes after House Speaker Mike Johnson insisted for weeks that he wouldn’t promise them a vote on anything, and even if he does follow through with a vote, it’s unlikely such a measure will pass the House.
Democratic lawmakers slammed their colleagues for forfeiting health care coverage for an estimated 5.1 million Americans by 2034 and increasing premiums across the marketplace.
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders railed against the deal while speaking before the Senate Sunday. “If this vote succeeds, over 20 million Americans are gonna see at least a doubling in their premiums in the Affordable Care Act,” he said. “For certain groups of people, it will be a tripling and a quadrupling of their premiums. There are people who will now be paying 50 percent of their limited incomes for health care. Does anybody in the world think that makes sense?”
My understanding is none, because they chose members who are already retiring for this
Fetterman isn’t a Democrat anymore. He will likely get voted out next term, regardless.
King is not a Democrat.
Masto is barely a Democrat, but that’s what her constituents wanted.
Shaheen is retiring.
Durbin is retiring.
Rosen and Kaine have not announced retirement, so they are interesting. Rosen just won a very close race in Nevada, so she either tried to appease conservative voters there or thinks she is gone anyway. No idea what Kaine is thinking.
Never discount the possibility of blackmail, too.
At this point we should assume every establishment politician at every level of government is being blackmailed.
If “they” chose these members to do this, why are “they” now mad at them? Either this was not a planned move by Democrat leadership and they should be pissed, or… well, while I don’t think the Democrats are all that great, I won’t slip into the “both sides” or “it’s the same party” mindset, as they hardly are comparable and that’s a very deep conspiracy to think that this was the plan all along.
https://prospect.org/2025/11/08/why-does-schumer-keep-trying-to-cave-government-shutdown/
This article says they moved with the explicit approval and knowledge of Schumer.
https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3m5bpyndmlp2u
This links to a clip on Fox news where Shaheen confirms they informed Schumer of their moves every step of the way. It’s not just a few bad apples, the bunch is rotten.
It’s like a race to the bottom, who can destroy things faster, Trump or Schumer. He had the support of most of the public to hold the line, right? Is he an idiot? Seems to be.
Sorry should have been more specific, they in this case refers to senate leadership, specifically Chuck Schumer, but also including anyone else involved in negotiating the ‘deal’
The dog walks itself.