Memo to Democrats: This Is a War and Not a Moment for Peacetime Generals.
The absurd culture of the Senate has produced a Democratic caucus of wimpy pushovers.
A note from our Editor-in-Chief: I’m delighted to introduce our newest Zeteo contributor, Ryan Cooper, to all our readers and subscribers. He will be writing a monthly politics column for us on the rise of the left, the Democratic Party’s internal battles, and the future of progressive politics. Ryan is a smart and passionate writer, a senior editor over at the American Prospect magazine, and the author of ‘How Are You Going to Pay for That?: Smart Answers to the Dumbest Question in Politics.’ Become a paid subscriber to Zeteo today so you can read his columns, in full, without a paywall.
- Mehdi
The longest government shutdown in history might be coming to an end very soon. On Sunday, eight members of the Senate Democratic caucus, including Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, Dick Durbin of Illinois, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Tim Kaine of Virginia, Angus King of Maine, Jacky Rosen of Nevada, and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, voted with Republicans to fund the government through January.
That’s in spite of the fact that Republicans did not meet Democrats’ main public demand of restoring Obamacare subsidies, and so premiums on the exchanges will more than double, on average. Instead, they will get a vote on those subsidies, some “minibus” funding priorities, and a restriction on layoffs of federal workers.
A natural question comes to mind: why?