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?”

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    1 day ago

    Of course they’re both right wing, but that doesn’t make them the same. Angela Merkel and Adolf Hitler were both rightwing chancellors of Germany. It DOES NOT make them the same.

    8 crap senators who aren’t standing in 2026 capitulated and gave in to the republicans. The rest were standing firm. If there were just a few more dems they could have still stood firm.

    • WoodScientist@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      If you vote to enable fascism, you are yourself a fascist, regardless of what color arm band you choose to wear.

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        1 day ago

        Actually, it turns out 1 is independent and another is already suspended or something.

        Anyway, yes, but they can do so much more damage from within, so I think they won’t.