Will Democrats get the credit for ending the Shut Down that Trump won by inflecting HURT on Government workers, travellers, and maybe the end of Obamacare premium’s cost help?
Will this cost NY Democratic Senate leader Schumer his Minority job?
For 40 days, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader, kept his Democratic caucus unified as a government shutdown stretched into record-breaking territory.
But that discipline couldn’t hold forever, and it broke without Democrats’ achieving what they insisted was their chief demand in the fight: the extension of health insurance subsidies that are scheduled to expire at the end of the year.
The group of moderate senators who broke from their party said they could no longer hold out on a deal while Americans suffered the consequences of a shuttered government. And they cited a commitment from Senator John Thune of South Dakota, the Republican leader, that they would at least receive a vote on the tax credits sometime in December.
“This bill is not perfect, but it takes important steps to reduce their shutdown’s hurt,” Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat, said in a statement explaining why he backed the deal.
Still, the promise of a vote does not guarantee that legislation will be passed. In fact, any measure to address health care subsidies faces long odds in a Republican-controlled Congress and given President Trump’s frequent broadsides against the Affordable Care Act.
As a result, the deal put bitter Democratic divisions on display. Mr. Schumer tersely told reporters that he would not vote for the bill because it lacked health care provisions, and he voiced objections on the Senate floor.
House Democrats, including the minority leader, Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, blasted the deal as insufficient.
“House Democrats have consistently maintained that bipartisan legislation that funds the government must also decisively address the Republican health care crisis,” he said in a statement….
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Health care will stay in the political spotlight.
Since Republicans passed a domestic policy package earlier this year that included steep Medicaid cuts, Democrats have focused their attacks against Republicans on the issue of health care, particularly as they eye the midterm elections next year.
Their bid to win health care concessions in the shutdown deal failed. Health care premiums, at least for now, are on track to rise, at a time when Americans say they are worried about paying for medical care.
But the political silver lining for Democrats is that Republicans will now be under pressure to either embrace a measure that could bring down those costs or answer to voters who polls show are overwhelmingly in favor of doing so.
If the agreement holds and the shutdown ends, the spotlight will shift to the vote Mr. Thune has promised on whether to extend the health care tax credits, and Democrats made clear that they intend to continue to pressure Republicans on the issue….
House members should start returning to Washington ‘right now,’ Johnson says
Jeffries backs Schumer amid fierce Democratic backlash to shutdown deal
“Yes and yes,” the House minority leader told reporters when asked if Schumer was effective and should keep his job.