Democrats Are Screwing Up the Shutdown
Democratic leaders have focused far too much on process and decorum while explaining the government shutdown to voters. By instead emphasizing politics over bureaucratic machinations, Bernie Sanders and AOC are showing how it should be done.
Centrist Democrat leaders like Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer are emphasizing that the shutdown is Donald Trump’s fault because he was inflexible about negotiating. (Nathan Posner / Anadolu via Getty Images)
The federal government shut down operations deemed nonessential on Wednesday over an impasse about whether to continue subsidies for buying health insurance at current levels. The stakes are high. In the short term, 750,000 federal workers will be furloughed each day. Donald Trump has repeatedly suggested that he’ll take the opportunity to make deep and permanent cuts to the federal workforce, so they’ll also have to hope they get their jobs back when it’s all over. Hundreds of thousands more whose jobs are deemed essential are expected to keep working for free until funding resumes. In the long term, if Democrats cave, many millions of people could see their health care costs skyrocket.
On Tuesday, ten hours before the shutdown was set to begin, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer stood behind a podium and addressed the assembled media. It was an important moment. What stirring words would the Democrats’ leader deliver as his party went into this fight?
Well, here’s how it started:
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