People on the Left are “perplexed” by the latest government shutdown development and seem to be blaming Senate Democrat Leader Chuck Schumer for folding. For example, California Governor Gavin Newsom called it “pathetic.”
It seems the GOP has finally gotten enough bipartisan support to clear the first hurdle in a lengthy process to reopen the government. In a rare Sunday vote, the Senate voted 60-40 on the continuing resolution. Democrat Senators Dick Durbin, Jeanne Shaheen, Maggie Hassan, Jacky Rosen, and Tim Kaine flipped their votes to join the other three Democrats who had previously voted “Yes” on the clean CR. Now, the Senate will combine the House-passed continuing resolution with the three-bill spending package and an updated continuing resolution to clear final passage. Then, it will head to the House for a vote before going to the president’s desk.
Donald Trump addressed the deal last night before heading into the White House. “It looks like we’re getting very close to the shutdown ending,” he said. The saddest part about ending the shutdown — aside from saving money, nixing needless jobs, and kicking lazy people off of government handouts — is the end of the sombrero memes.
On the bright side, it doesn’t appear that Democrats got anything they wanted. Instead of a commitment to extend ObamaCare subsidies, the only real concession from the GOP was a pledge to rescind the layoffs that Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought began. Those layoffs only took place because Schumer shut the government down.
As Hot Air reports, “The deal includes a December vote on a Democratic proposal to extend [Affordable Care Act] tax credits for one year, multiple sources said. It would take 60 votes to pass. It also includes language aimed at providing assistance to federal employees who were laid off during the shutdown, as well as a provision to fund SNAP benefits through Sept. 30.”
Since the “provision” on SNAP is the Agriculture-FDA appropriation bill, that’s not a concession. And as far as the proposal next month to extend the ObamaCare tax credits, that vote would have happened with or without a government shutdown.
Republicans had hoped that their plan last Thursday would bring an end to the shutdown. They challenged Democrats to block a test vote on their new plan to fund the Department of Veterans Affairs and military construction projects, the Department of Agriculture, and Congress itself. That represents three of the 12 federal spending areas that Congress must approve each year. The current plan would fund those three sectors until September 30. Lawmakers would then add a Band-Aid spending bill for the rest of the government that would fund it until January. Republicans began eyeing a longer temporary spending bill due to the shutdown going on longer than anyone expected. “We’ve lost five weeks. So the November 21st deadline no longer makes a lot of sense,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune.
However, House Speaker Mike Johnson rightly noted that Schumer is the sticking point. “I’m less optimistic this morning than I was yesterday,” he said. “What I understand is that Chuck Schumer has pulled them back from that and that they’re being instructed and told they can’t go there.” The progressives of the Democrat Party have been pushing Schumer to be uncooperative, especially after his decision in March to fund the government. “He’s got to keep doing it, and we’ve got to deliver a win because we can’t have what happened in the spring happen again,” admonished Rep. Pramila Jayapal.
Could the thaw possibly be because the Democrats are afraid the Republicans may actually follow through on Trump’s threats to nuke the filibuster? It’s a possibility, especially since it would have enabled the Republican majority to push through their commonsense agenda.
Trump continued his taunts of the Democrats on Saturday: “The Democrats are cracking like dogs on the Shutdown because they are deathly afraid that I am making progress with the Republicans on TERMINATING THE FILIBUSTER! Whether we make a Deal or not, THE REPUBLICANS MUST ‘BLOW UP’ THE FILIBUSTER, AND APPROVE HUNDREDS OF LONG SOUGHT, BUT NEVER GOTTEN, POLICY WINS LIKE, AS JUST A SMALL EXAMPLE, VOTER ID (IDENTIFICATION).”
In typical Trumpian fashion, he added, “Only a LOSER would not agree to doing this!”
Trump’s comments came just 24 hours after Schumer put forth a proposal to bring the shutdown to an end, saying that Democrats would come to the table if Republicans would sign off on a one-year extension of the ObamaCare subsidies. This move would bring the healthcare discussion back to the forefront just in time for the midterm elections. But we know for a fact that Republicans would never have agreed to that ridiculous proposal, as they themselves can attest to:
-
“Nope. Schumer’s plan is dead on arrival.” —Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin
-
“God, please give me patience, because if you give me strength, I’m going to need bail money. What Senator Schumer is suggesting is that we do the dumbest thing possible that won’t work.” —Louisiana Senator John Kennedy
One interesting thing to note is that, unlike Schumer, most of the Democrats who flipped their votes won’t have to face voters next year.
Regardless of what brought about this weekend’s metamorphosis, the Schumer Shutdown was complete chaos and failed miserably. Chuck Schumer will have a hard time explaining this one away. But either way, his career is likely over.
