Democrats are milking this shutdown for everything they can, but I kind of think it is backfiring on them.
Case in point, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) was with AOC touting this oligarchy nonsense during a town hall on CNN, when he got hit with a question by one of the attendees.
Sanders gave the kid a smug answer, but he fired right back at the Senator, leaving Sanders a bit tongue-tied.
We are now nearly two full weeks into this shutdown, and it does not appear to be ending anytime soon.
On numerous occasions, the GOP has offered the Democrats their tax cuts to be extended another year, and Democrats have again rejected them, which I will get into a bit more in just a second.
The longest shutdown in history happened during Trump’s first term, which lasted more than a month, and this one seems headed in that direction as well.
But Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) asked a great question today, wondering why we need all these extra employees if the government seems to be working just fine without all those furloughed employees.
When Biden was in office, Democrats used reconciliation to ram through spending legislation on two different occasions.
This was the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) in 2021 and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in 2022.
In both instances, they extended the subsidies, even enhancing them so more people would be eligible, with the first extension going into 2022, and the second extension going to the end of the 2025 fiscal year, which just closed out.
Here’s the thing… because they were using reconciliation, they easily could have included permanent subsidies, but they chose not to, so you need to ask yourself why. I believe it was because they were so worried about losing in 2024, they wanted this little poison pill to pop up so they could have leverage over a Republican administration. Again, if they were happy with mere extensions in 2021 and 2022, why not just extend it now and take the win?
This brings us to the CNN town hall, where a young man asked Sanders about Senator Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) leadership during the shutdown, to which Sanders replied, "Well, I think it reflects more on Mike Johnson‘s leadership and President Trump‘s leadership. This is a leadership that said it‘s okay to give a…well, how do you feel? You tell me. You think it‘s a good idea to give $1 trillion in tax breaks to the richest people in the country and then make massive cuts to healthcare for working-class people?"
Sanders had a smug look on his face when he gave that answer, but that answer is also filled with untruths, as that nonsense about tax breaks for the rich has been debunked more times than I can count. The audience member responded, "I think Chuck Schumer has voted for continuing resolutions 13 times in the last four years, and he has the opportunity to vote for one again, but he‘s refusing to come to the table.”
He clearly caught Sanders off guard, but he eventually responded, "I think…look, as I have said, there are 53 Republicans in the Senate, correct? They need 60. What does that mean? It means you have to talk to the other side. Mike Johnson is not talking. John Thune is not talking. President Trump is not talking. That is the problem."
Again, that is a lie. Republicans have repeatedly told Dems they would extend the tax cuts for one more year, then negotiate reforms to Obamacare before the cuts expired again, but Dems want nothing to do with it. The GOP is talking, but the Dems have laid down a demand and refuse to move off that spot. This is a Democrat shutdown, period.
