The Democrats were furious Monday over eight senators who caved to support a deal to end the government shutdown that does not include the Affordable Care Act subsidies their party had spent weeks fighting for.
The offending lawmakers include Democratic Senators Dick Durbin, Tim Kaine, Jacky Rosen, John Fetterman, Catherine Cortez Masto, Maggie Hassan, Jeanne Shaheen, and independent Senator Angus King, who claimed that they’d ensured a Senate vote on extending the tax credits. Their capitulation comes after House Speaker Mike Johnson insisted for weeks that he wouldn’t promise them a vote on anything, and even if he does follow through with a vote, it’s unlikely such a measure will pass the House.
Democratic lawmakers slammed their colleagues for forfeiting health care coverage for an estimated 5.1 million Americans by 2034 and increasing premiums across the marketplace.
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders railed against the deal while speaking before the Senate Sunday. “If this vote succeeds, over 20 million Americans are gonna see at least a doubling in their premiums in the Affordable Care Act,” he said. “For certain groups of people, it will be a tripling and a quadrupling of their premiums. There are people who will now be paying 50 percent of their limited incomes for health care. Does anybody in the world think that makes sense?”
Yep, because all the constituents magically knew that their elected representatives were making deals behind their backs.
Are you kidding? Are you telling me you had no idea they were holding votes constantly to reopen the government?? They held at least 14 votes my man. Each and every vote was the potential for “a deal”. Clearly you never reached out to your representatives at least once during those 14 votes.
Thanks for highlighting my point.
Oh, for sure. I most definitely did not reach out to my local representative. That would be a weird interaction considering neither I, nor my local representative, are American.
BTW, you’re very welcome for highlighting your point here. Most people do not diligently follow their local politics. ‘Wanting’ them to do so isn’t much of an incentive. Nor is gaslighting them into believing that they should already be aware (coz reasons).