Senate Democrats rejected for the 10th time Thursday a stopgap spending bill that would reopen the government, insisting they won’t back away from demands that Congress take up health care benefits.
The vote failed Thursday morning on a 51-45 vote, well short of the 60 needed to advance with the Senate’s filibuster rules.
The repetition of votes on the funding bill has become a daily drumbeat in Congress, underscoring how intractable the situation has become. It has been at times the only item on the agenda for the Senate floor, while House Republicans have left Washington altogether. The standoff has lasted over two weeks, leaving hundreds of thousands of federal workers furloughed, even more without a guaranteed payday and Congress essentially paralyzed.
The GOP is doing a great job of building the opposition campaign slogan: “The GOP kept the government shut down for X days for the sole purpose of denying Americans access to healthcare.”
If Congress does not agree with how the executive spends money, then it is their responsibility as Congress to refuse to allow it to spend money. It’s their job to control the purse, explicitly designed that way, to do exactly this. It isn’t a broken system that government is shut down, it’s the intended result when Congress and the Executive can’t agree on how to govern the nation. If there is no agreement, there is no governance. It’s working as intended.
Defund the fascists who intent to destroy American democracy, the Republic, the rule for law and the division of powers. Disempower them by denying them the purse. I don’t know if democrats even grasp how important it is that they hold this line. It is the last line protecting the division of powers and is so much more important than health care.
Totally agree. Folks talking about health care is understandable to explain to the public, but the executive is just spending and “impounding” money any fucking way Trump wants right now and that runs counter to the constitutional order.
It may be an unpopular position if Repubs eventually cave on health care (at least on paper) but I think the Democrats should hold out for some type of actionable promise from the executive to return to the constitutional order, or force Repubs to nuke the filibuster and completely own this pile of shit.
What good is a budget if the executive can use it as toilet paper?
What good is the constitution if the executive can use it as toilet paper?
Good.
It’s the only power they have. Use it.
If the republicans wanted the government open, they’d just have to negotiate with the people who can provide the votes to open it back up again. Instead, they’re refusing to negotiate and either expecting the democrats to cave and give them what they want by passing the bill or just figuring they’ll leave the government shut down which also benefits them.
The could also reconcile the budget, break it into parts and they could have had the government portions that are shut down back up by October 2nd. Only 4 budgets have passed without reconciliation since 1974. They just reconciled the “big beautiful bill” on July 1st (passed 51-50) so they know the process . They need 0 votes from Democrats to pass the bill
I don’t think that’s right, I’m pretty sure any kind of budget resolution (continuing or no) has to have 60 votes under current Senate rules. Once they’ve got that bottom line resolution passed then they’re able to use reconciliation on individual components of the budget to move monies around (so long as they end up at the same bottom line) and pass those with only 50 votes, but establishing that bottom line still requires 60.
Best source I could find at the moment for this is a publication I haven’t heard of before tbh, but it’s being rehosted by MSN so it’s most likely somewhat legit, and this all sounds like stuff I’ve read before,
First, the House and Senate must agree to a budget resolution, which sets overall spending and revenue targets. Then, bills advanced in the name of “reconciling” tax and spending practices with that budget resolution need only a simple majority vote to win approval in the Senate. There are limits on what qualifies for reconciliation and on how many bills can be deemed as reconciliation each year.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/why-senate-republicans-need-reconciliation-to-fund-trump-s-agenda/ar-AA1y4YRk (arc)
60 vote “requirement” isn’t real. It can be overturned with a simple majority. It exists to give an excuse to democrats to not do anything. The republicans have and will create an exception whenever it is convenient for them. But they are perfectly fine with furloughing the services part of the government. But worry not, ICE and DoD contracts will still be paid.
It’s been true since the budget reconciliation act of 1974 was put into place: https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R40480
The year started October 1st. 20 hours later they could have passed it through the senate.
Government “shutdowns” didn’t exist before then as they do now.
Where they did it for the Big Stupid Bill: https://www.naco.org/news/us-congress-passes-reconciliation-bill-what-it-means-counties
Edit: also if you read the article you posted, it states they could use reconciliation to get around the 60 vote necessity.
Healthcare is an excellent place for democrats to hold the line, especially now when so much is lost.
Usually I blame republicans for shutdowns but now I blame republicans, and cheer on the democrats.
The number of people I know of that are wondering why their e-filing for taxes with the IRS haven’t gone through yet (deadline was the October 15th) is pretty high. “They normally go through in a couple hours”
There have been massive cuts to the federal government, and something like half the IRS is furloughed apparently at the moment. I have no evidence that’s why something that normally runs fairly smooth is delayed… But it sure as hell would make sense.
What a fucking load of shit. The democrats rejected things? Who the FUCK is in charge? Who owns the SENATE, the HOUSE, and the PRESIDENCY?
The Republicans do. They fucking own it all. They are doing all of this.
Don’t forget to mention that Trump knows more about the Gov than anyone, and he’s smarter than everyone else…and I think he said, “No one can do it like I can.”, but somehow he can’t get a deal done here. In fact, he ain’t even trying. He looks like he’s playing golf all day and watching Fox (News?)/
The ACA subsidies mostly benefit people in Republican districts, which is not being stated enough.
Don’t worry, they are willing to suffer so their heroes can get richer.
Npr did an interview recently . I thought the host did well until the Republican said they would re haul health care.
I wish the host asked if the Republican’s position was to let the credits expire while they try to overhaul the system.
That’s the exact reason the Dems are protecting the American people from unaffordable healthcare. If something isn’t done now it won’t be done
Democrats attempting to protect Americans from the repercussions of their own choices, and getting criticised for it - while Republicans speedrun towards a techno-fascist feudalist future.
Bruh, as someone whose pay is 100% caught up in this shutdown, I applaud the Dems.
They might be protecting the status quo atm, but as least they’re taking a stand against shit getting worse. Everyone has to start somewhere!
This is 100% on Replicans who proudly claimed they were not negotiating and that democrats just had to sign it.
Honestly they should keep it shut down until Trump is out of power
This is a monumentally dumb and deadly idea. Want to watch the US cease to exist as a global super power? Good luck maintaining our nuclear arsenal without paying people.
The US already has died as a global superpower. Only it’s military keeps it going.
There are a lot of people still being paid. ICE for example. Much like everything involved with the US congress, the rules aren’t real and can be changed on a whim.
I wish someone with some name recognition and clout would start calling for a general strike. The pressure needs to go up, and that means hitting the oligarchy where it matters — their bank accounts.
Bring that message to your local No Kings rally.
I was thinking of what a good opportunity to strike to show solidarity with Government workers.
Good.
I hope they don’t cave this time. If they don’t do something to get the monthly premiums down millions of Americans will go without healthcare, and the cost of caring for people without insurance will be offloaded or “Cost shifted” to people who have insurance, forcing them to pay an inflated price for treatments, visits, and procedures.
Of course media and liberals overlook the fact that the government being “shut down” is part of the kabuki theater. There is nothing stopping the government being funded at previous levels unless a consensus was agreed to for the current year. It only takes a simple majority to make that change. The Dems could have done that during Obama, and also in 2020. But they didn’t because a shut-down leading to lots of employee attrition and smaller government benefits the capitalists.
Have they finally figured it out?
