No Victory Laps to Be Taken Here . . .

As taken from Joyce Vance’s Civil Discourse

“No one should be surprised that the man who orchestrated the January 6 insurrection sees a permanent takeover of the country in the Republican party’s future. There is word tonight of a possible path to ending the shutdown. A deal in the Senate that would apparently fund the government through January 30, 2026, reversing federal employee layoffs and providing full-year appropriations for veterans’ affairs and SNAP benefits. It also secures a mid-December Senate vote on extending Affordable Care Act subsidies, but doesn’t guarantee immediate funding. Of course, the House remains out of session and would have to return and vote in favor as well for a deal to go through, so consider this very preliminary.

Not all Democrats are on board with the contours of this proposal. While the vote would have the effect of forcing each Republican to take a position in public on healthcare costs and access as we head into the midterm election year, some Democrats likened it to caving in. California Governor Gavin Newsom was among them, and Bernie Sanders encouraged his colleagues to oppose the deal. And a preliminary vote tonight, where Republicans were joined by seven Democrats, and Maine Independent Angus King was rejected by Senators Schumer and Warren. Warren called the potential compromise ‘a terrible mistake’ and said Democrats should ‘stand and fight for health care.’”

AB: A ways back (Fall 2009), I attended Showdown Chicago protest in downtown Chicago.

“The American Banking Association (ABA) held their “Roaring Twenties” party to kick off their annual meeting, people from 20 different states, as far away as California, came together to kick off “Showdown Chicago” protesting the loss of jobs and the harsh and speculative practices put in place by banks and W$ since 2000.”

“Report from Chicago” October 2009 – Angry Bear. ABA meeting.

It has been a long time since then. One of the speakers then was a much younger Illinois Senator Dick Durbin. He spoke to the crowd of people there. I was on an elevator with a nervous Dick Durbin to ask a few questions on his thoughts then. Reported back to Angry Bear what I had seen and heard at the protest of several thousand people. That was then when Durbin was still serious about his being a senator. His statement then?

Here is Senator Durbin speaking at Showdown Chicago in 2009. The ABA Roaring Twenties party was not terribly far away.

And Today?

“Now that Democrats secured these wins, it’s time for Leader Thune to keep his promise to schedule a vote on the ACA tax credits in December.”

Not much of a gain by Democrats. Definitely not a win. There still is the issue of higher premiums for citizens and throwing millions of citizens off of Medicaid.

Other information taken from Politico with AB input:

Eight Senators joined in a vote and deciding to end the shutdown. What they are getting out of this is rather mediocre in my opinion. The very same senators are not running in the next election. They will have their healthcare benefits guaranteed. Oh, and the senators?

“Most of the senators (not all) previously held state-level office (four former governors). Most, but not all, come from presidential swing states. Two have announced they are retiring from the Senate after their current terms end, and two are senior members of the Senate Appropriations Committee (Politico).

None are up for reelection in 2026.”

Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois: Durbin is the Democratic whip and the only member of party leadership who voted with Republicans to advance the deal to end the shutdown. “This bill is not perfect. It takes important steps to reduce the shutdown’s hurt. Now that Democrats secured these wins, it’s time for Leader Thune to keep his promise to schedule a vote on the ACA tax credits in December.” He is retiring next year after three decades in office.

AB: Definitely not a win. Medicaid recipients still at risk.

Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania: Fetterman is the only Democrat who has voted each and every time to end the shutdown. He’s knocked his party for sparking the shutdown and blamed them for government workers missing paychecks and low-income families losing federal food aid.

AB: Always the tough guy. A rogue.

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada: Cortez Masto has voted 15 times to end the federal government shutdown, even before Democrats had extracted the promise of a vote on the health care tax credits. She repeatedly stated she did not want to inflict sweeping pain on some Americans in order to extract a solution to “the impending health care crisis” of expiring tax credits.

AB: Still at risk are millions of Medicaid recipients.

Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire: Hassan, who was one of the Democrats who negotiated the vote on the Affordable Care Act tax credits deal. She is up for reelection in 2028.

“I’ve heard from Granite Staters who can’t afford a doubling of their health insurance costs. I’ve also heard from families about the deep pain that the government shutdown has caused.” Hassan told reporters Sunday, highlighting the dueling pressures Democrats were under to cut a deal.

Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia: Kaine represents about 150,000 federal workers affected by the shutdown and backed the deal that includes a key provision for his state: reinstatement of federal workers impacted by mass “reduction in force” firings during the shutdown.

“This legislation will protect federal workers from baseless firings, reinstate those who have been wrongfully terminated during the shutdown, and ensure federal workers receive back pay,” he said in a statement. Kaine admitted Sunday night that he was a latecomer to the group, saying, “I joined it 48 hours ago, not for lack of interest.”

Sen. Jacky Rosen of Nevada: Rosen joined fellow Nevadan Cortez Masto to vote to advance the deal. An ~ 95,000 Nevadans utilize the ACA tax credits. Like King, she was just reelected in 2024.

“Trump and his Republican cronies on Capitol Hill do not give a damn about hurting working people. Their conduct over the last month has been nothing short of appalling, Rosen said in a statement. She called the ACA tax credit vote “the concession we’ve been able to extract.”

AB: And those on Medicaid?

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire: Shaheen was an original sponsor of the legislation creating the enhanced Obamacare tax credits central to the shutdown dispute and played a key role in negotiating the vote to extend them. She is also retiring from the Senate next year. She spent much of her Senate career on the Appropriations Committee. She was also part of shaping the new stopgap spending bill that, in tandem with the ACA vote promise, could open the government.

“This was the only deal on the table. It was our best chance to reopen the government and immediately begin negotiations to extend the ACA tax credits,” Shaheen said Sunday night.

AB: What about those on Medicaid?

Sen. Angus King of Maine: King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats. A key negotiator on the deal struck to guarantee a vote on Affordable Care Act tax credits once the government is open. He hosted multiple meetings in his Capitol hideaway in recent weeks as the compromise came together.

A former governor of Maine, King pointed to the pain the shutdown is causing with federal aid programs halted. “We are closer to the possibility of work on the ACA tax credits for the people of this country than we were yesterday, than we were a week ago, two weeks ago, or a month ago,” he said Sunday.

AB: Medicaid?

Much of the information in this post was taken from Politico which can be read here. If you read what each has to say (there is probably more somewhere), none are talking about Medicaid recipients. Maybe that is a tag-along in all of this. Not much gained here.