After nearly 40 days, the Schumer Shutdown is finally over. Enough Democrats are reportedly crossing over, abandoning their party’s intransigent stance, to allow the government to resume operations. From what has been reported, it doesn’t sound like the Republicans gave up anything significant.
Based on the speeches by Chuck Schumer (bordering on the insane) and John Thune, it sounds like what tipped the balance was disruption to air travel. Important Democrats are not on food stamps, but they fly. A lot. So when a shutdown of air travel threatened, pressure on Democratic senators became irresistible. That is my reading of the situation, anyway.
CNN reports:
A critical group of at least eight Senate Democratic centrists has reached a deal with Senate GOP leaders and the White House to reopen the government in exchange for a future vote on extending enhanced Affordable Care subsidies, according to two people familiar with the discussions — even as the rest of their party has openly pilloried the deal.
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At least eight Senate Democrats have agreed to vote for the deal, which was brokered Sunday night between three former governors — Sens. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Angus King of Maine and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire — along with Senate Majority Leader John Thune and the White House.One of those Democrats is Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, who represents thousands of federal workers in the state and who said he supports the GOP’s promise for a future vote on the subsidies.
The final vote is uncertain as of this writing, but evidently the votes are there to end the shutdown. Maybe more troubling information will come out in days to come, but at this point it appears that the Democrats have simply caved, and Republicans have not given up anything of importance.
