Quote:
Originally Posted by nfotiu
What does a successful endgame to the shutdown look like for the Democrats? It seems that there messaging is working for now, and are winning the political aspect of it. But there is a real cost to Federal government employees who are going into month 2 of no paychecks, some loss of SNAP funding, airline mayem coming up for people trying to go home for Thanksgiving, etc. I don't know that those victims are all willing to be pawns in that battle.
The core issue that the Democrats are fighting for is Obamacare subsidies to stay at the same level. It's really an unusual hill for both sides to die on since it only affects a sliver of the population. Holding out for that is a pretty small victory.
Democrats cheering for a protracted shutdown may start to backfire as more and more people start to feel real affects of it.
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Strongly disagree on a 'sliver.' First off, between Marketplace plans/Medicaid expansion, that includes 45 million. Marketplace alone is 24 million. Beyond those numbers: if ACA subsidies are gone, fewer people will purchase insurance because they can't afford it, and if fewer people pay for insurance, those who do pay for insurance will pay more (because when people go to the ER with serious problems, someone's gotta pay for that care).
I'm in PA and our insurance hikes are relatively modest (I'm self-employed so getting mine through PA's ACA marketplace, and mine went up just over 20%), but some states are going up 100% or more, and people just cannot afford that. This also goes hand in hand with medicaid cuts, which will obliterate a major revenue stream for hospitals, especially rural ones.
At this point, things keep getting worse one way or another. By hammering home that the GOP owns this - refusing to negotiate, Trump refusing to release the SNAP funding he's been ordered to release by the courts, not seating a duly elected house representative - and doing it all because they don't want to release the Epstein files? The pain is going to start to get to people, and most are realizing who's to blame, as evidenced by Tuesday's results.
Again with the analogy that some people need to touch the stove to realize it's hot. Voters are being forced to live with the consequences of their vote last year, and I don't think Dems should bail the GOP out of this. It's ugly right now, but honestly even if they cave, it's still going to be ugly, just with better access to SNAP (though the BBB already added restrictions to eligibility and shifted some/most responsibility to the states so it's already been impacted regardless). And protecting healthcare access/affordability, I think, is a pretty good line in the sand.
