General Discussion

and people with ACA insurance. The ACA subsidies were passed in the first place as part of the pandemic relief measures included in the American Rescue Plan, and they were scheduled to expire this year unless extended. But there was never any way in Hell the GOP was going to agree to extend the existing subsidies past their expiration date; they've been trying to kill the ACA one way or another since it was passed. Was the reason for the shutdown to hold the GOP's feet to the fire they've always been willing to burn themselves up in? It's much harder to take away an existing benefit than it is to provide it in the first place, but it appears that the GOP would have been willing to keep the government shut down indefinitely, notwithstanding all the inevitable harm to millions of people and the economy in general. And Trump liked it that the government was shut down. What the Dems were up against was the fact that the GOP has a much higher threshold for other people's pain. So, my question is, why did that handful of Dem senators finally agree to the funding bill? Was it the recognition that the GOP would gladly set the economy on fire and starve a few million children before they'd extend the ACA subsidies? Do they think some compromise extension can be negotiated? Some other reason? Cui bono?