The Senate has ended the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, with seven Democratic senators and one independent senator changing their stance. They put national interests above party interests, ending the shutdown with a 60–40 vote. These senators are: Tim Kaine of Virginia; Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire; John Fetterman of Pennsylvania; Jacky Rosen and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada; Dick Durbin of Illinois; and Angus King of Maine, an independent who has consistently aligned with the Democrats. Republican Rand Paul, as usual, voted against the measure, but the other 52 Republicans voted in favor.
Senator Angus King said that the Democrats’ tactic of using the government shutdown to force billions more into the Obamacare program would not work. This is a pragmatic acknowledgment of reality: as the shutdown drags on, ordinary Americans suffer more and more. Federal employees have gone a month without pay, air traffic controllers are understaffed, and flights are increasingly canceled or delayed. With the holiday travel peak approaching, would America’s Thanksgiving turn into a travel nightmare?
Although these eight pragmatic senators received approval from the general public, they drew the ire of cynics within the Democratic Party. Senator Bernie Sanders called it a terrible mistake. The Governor of California described it as a sad and shameless betrayal. Senator Elizabeth Warren called it a betrayal of voters. AOC, one of the “Squad,” said they are “fake Democrats,” betraying the working class—a shame.
Truthfully, continued shutdowns would increasingly harm the Democrats. While publicly condemning the so-called traitors, they privately feel relieved that someone else is taking the blame, allowing them to maintain a facade of uncompromising principles.
Just as Trump controls the Republican Party, the left-wing “Red Guards” have gained dominance within the Democratic Party. Any candidate seeking the party’s nomination in 2028 dares not offend the Red Guards or the Squad. The Red Guards have become the dominant faction within the party.
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The Republicans’ steadfastness is commendable because they firmly said no to the Democrats’ demands to extend Obamacare subsidies created during the pandemic era. The Republicans promised to hold a vote on subsidy extensions, which originally passed in 2021 without Republican support. The agreement now passed is temporary, lasting until Jan. 30 of next year, and includes full-year funding for certain small government departments like Agriculture and Veterans Affairs, through Sept. 30, to prevent another shutdown in February. The Republicans’ next priority is funding the U.S. military, upgrading technology and equipment.
Ultimately, the root cause of this shutdown traces back to the Democrats’ forceful passage of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) without a single Republican vote, using their slim majorities in Congress. This deeply angered conservative Americans, giving rise to the Tea Party, which eventually helped propel Trump to the White House. A key promise of Trump’s campaign was to overturn Obamacare.
So the boomerang has returned. Last weekend, Trump once again focused on Obamacare, calling it a “scam” that enriches insurance companies while worsening coverage. Seeing the rising costs of Obamacare, the Democrats want to convince Trump and the Republicans to bail it out to prevent failure, even at the cost of a government shutdown. But the shutdown has taught Republicans they don’t have to be hostages to healthcare; they can propose their own solutions to help more Americans get better insurance than Obamacare provides.
This article reflects the author’s personal views and does not necessarily reflect the views of Vision Times.
