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?”

  • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today
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    2 days ago

    Sure, they held out all that time, so they could get a massive midterm victory, just to completely surrender all their new political capital.

    While American citizens see that election as a victory, Democrats don’t really see it that way. That was a Progressive victory, and the Dems look at it as almost as big a loss as the MAGAs do. They weren’t about to keep holding out, and giving the Socialists another victory to run on 2028.

      • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today
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        1 day ago

        Well, we wouldn’t want any politicians to be nervous, so let’s give up our health care so they feel better.

        There, there, Schmuckie Chuck, are you feeling better now that you can fly whenever you want, while your constituents suffer and die without health care?