Herding Democrats is TOUGH because we are DIVERSE: Our greatest frustration, and our greatest strength [View all]

Last edited Mon Nov 10, 2025, 04:24 AM - Edit history (2)

Schumer actually did a good job of holding the conference together for as long as he did.

I am angry at the defectors because I believed that if we kept hammering Republicans on how unreasonable they were being -- particularly the rejection of Schumer's incredibly reasonable compromise to have a "win win" of extending the ACA subsidies for a single year to provide time to negotiate further after the government is reopened -- meeting Thune's "no negotiations until after the shutdown is ended" halfway. How reasonable that proposal was, and how unreasonable Thune's gang was being, had barely had a chance to sink in. I think within another week, the Republicans were likely to cave because they REALLY didn't like the thought of people hating on them over Thanksgiving Dinner.

But I could be wrong. I'm not in those rooms. And the thing is, all along, there WERE negotiations going on -- negotiations on actual appropriations bills. Almost like a functional Congress does as a matter of course.

This was not an "overnight" cave.

Jeanne Shaheen is a Senate Powerhouse. Senior or Ranking member on key committees, and a key driver of landmark legislation.

Dick Durbin is no lightweight either. Of the eight defectors, he and Jeanne Shaheen aren't running again, so whatever you think of them, they are stepping aside for a new generation.

The thing is, the funding cuts in the MAGA Murder Budget are meaningless until they are actually implemented in an appropriation bill. I believe we will learn in the coming days that the so-called "minibus package" negotiated as part of this "deal" mitigates cuts and harms that were in the MAGA Murder Budget.

For example, the MAGA Murder Budget cut SNAP by something like 20 billion a year for the next 10 years. The Agriculture appropriations bill negotiated as part of the deal to end the shutdown fully funds SNAP at current levels through fiscal 2026.

I think we'll be hearing about a number of other "wins" for Democrats in the minibus appropriations bills

So, Thune drew his line in the sand about negotiating on ACA. And he gets to say "we held the line." But DID He? Negotiating the promise of a vote is a negotiation. And that promise is not meaningless.

You can argue that Jeanne Shaheen's approach (along with the others involved in negotiations)-- i.e., working to get concessions behind the scenes that no one had drawn any lines in the sand over --- was wrong. That argument is not one I would feel 100% confident in. We can't know how things would have played out if the Dems had drawn their line (a one year extension of ACA or no budget at all) and held it.

The thing is, we may yet get whatever concessions are in those minibus bills AND get an extension of the ACA subsidies.

This stand off has raised public awareness and anger about the catastrophic ACA premium increases to levels that make it something that Republicans actually may pass.

And in the standoff, the felon exposed himself as the Grinch who literally went to the Supreme Court to steal Christmas.

All in all, I don't think we are in such a bad place. Time will tell.

There is ONE thing I can say with conviction. What is NOT helpful is spreading cynicism and hopelessness with counter-resistance "Democrats are all shit" propaganda.