Shut Down the Government to Save Health Care

[lostincalifornia]

Congressional Democrats have a way to save subsidies for millions of Americans if they’re willing to take the risk.

......

"An appropriations bill needs 60 votes to pass the Senate. In last spring’s debate over the appropriations bill, Democrats calculated that House Republicans — with their narrow majority — would be unable to pass a spending bill on a party-line vote. It was not an unreasonable assumption: In recent years, there has been a substantial clutch of right-wing House members opposed to any bill that doesn’t include dramatic spending cuts. It is offset by another clutch of frontline House Republicans who don’t want to vote for dramatic spending cuts, especially since party-line bills can’t pass the Senate anyway. Democrats assumed this same dynamic would stymie House Republicans and create an opportunity for Senate Democrats to craft a bipartisan budget bill.



They were wrong. Republican leaders were able to convince their right-wing caucus to vote for a more or less “clean” bill. When that was done, Senate Republicans lined up behind it and dared Democrats to filibuster, which would have induced a government shutdown. Schumer faced overwhelming pressure — from his caucus, from donors, and from Democratic activists — to allow a shutdown and demand concessions on DOGE cuts. He and a handful of loyalists wisely recognized that a shutdown on that basis would only make it easier for Trump to dismantle the federal government, and they voted to pass the Republican bill.



It was the correct call, but a costly one: It was disappointing, to put it mildly, to a party base that was already very angry.



Unfortunately, it is simply not possible for a minority of 47 senators to force an end to the whole list of things that President Donald Trump is doing which enrage rank-and-file Democrats. The only way to genuinely address Democrats’ concerns is to try to win control of both houses of Congress next year, which would allow Senate Democrats to block or stall the ongoing MAGAfication of the judiciary, and then to win the presidency in 2028.


.........


The solution is to pick a winnable fight on a specific issue — ideally an issue that Democratic challengers in the midterms are comfortable with.



Health care is that issue. Former President Joe Biden increased the generosity of the subsidies available for families to buy insurance on the Affordable Care Act exchanges. That saves money directly for those families, but it also benefits people like me, who buy unsubsidized plans, because it expands the risk pool. The Kaiser Family Foundation calculates that if the subsidies lapse, out-of-pocket costs will rise by a staggering 75% for the average family. That’s awful enough that Republicans might actually give in and do what Democrats are asking for, allowing Schumer and the Democratic leadership to tell the base that not only did they fight Trump — they won.



Of course, Republicans might also stick to their guns and the government will shut down. What happens then is anyone’s guess, but at least Democrats would have a quick and easy explanation of what it is they are fighting for: not a total rollback of the Trump presidency, but a concrete win for Americans’ pocketbooks."


www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2025-09-07/healthcare-can-be-saved-with-a-government-shutdown?srnd=homepage-americas

[Silent Type]

1. Good post, get something that helps people rather than just trying to taint trump. Fortunately, a bipartisan Bill to

to maintain the enhanced premium subsidies has been introduced. I think it has a chance of getting approved, but we'll see.

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/04/aca-enhanced-tax-credits-extension-00544565

Oh, there is also a Bill to waive the Paygo requirements that could automatically cut Medicare 4% next year. Congress went with the waiver back in 2017 when trump passed his damn tax cuts, so maybe they will this time.