Democrats bet big that President Donald Trump would cave to their healthcare demands in a protracted government shutdown fight. Now, they’re facing a reckoning from the party’s base over the miscalculation.
The standoff, which centered on expiring Obamacare subsidies, ended up backing congressional Democrats into a corner and disappointing supporters, who expected them to emerge from the shutdown with an extension of the subsidies despite GOP control of Congress and the White House.
Instead, a group of Senate Democrats settled to reopen the government with only the promise of a future vote on healthcare, an offer Republicans first floated to Democrats a month earlier but was roundly rejected at the time as insufficient.
Those same deal-makers, who claimed victory by creating a national conversation on healthcare, are tempering expectations heading into negotiations with Republicans ahead of next month’s promised vote and further enraging Democratic colleagues and voters. There’s a “guaranteed vote,” the centrist rebels have repeated, quickly followed with “but not a guaranteed outcome.”
“I think people understand what a betrayal this is to not be able to go back with a victory and, certainly, how cruel Republicans are to refuse to actually fix healthcare for their constituents,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), a leader of the Progressive Caucus.
The latest indictment of Democratic leaders by the progressive wing played out in theatrical fashion Thursday, when demonstrators from the liberal activist group Our Revolution hand-delivered a petition with thousands of digital signatures to Sen. Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) Washington office, calling on him to step down as minority leader.
“Unfortunately, messaging doesn’t provide healthcare to the 20 million folks that are going to lose it because of this, and they give up with a promise of a vote that is absolutely not going to pass,” Our Revolution Deputy Director Paco Fabien told the Washington Examiner.
It is estimated that more than 4 million Obamacare recipients out of the 24 million people with marketplace plans will be forced to drop their coverage in the coming years without the continued subsidies.
Schumer opposed ending the shutdown without a policy concession from Republicans and voted against the bipartisan resolution, but he has been unable to avoid the base’s wrath, with critics claiming he privately blessed the shutdown-ending deal. Schumer’s allies deny that claim.
The deal has become fodder for Senate candidates from Maine to Iowa accusing Schumer of capitulation and calling on him to resign from leadership, mirroring the outrage in a March funding battle that also ended in defeat for Democrats.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), among the eight Democratic-caucusing senators to strike a deal that ended the 43-day shutdown on Wednesday, said prolonging it “wouldn’t deliver a better outcome.”
“It would only mean more harm for families in New Hampshire and all across the country,” she said.
Sen. Angus King (I-ME), another of the deal-makers, called the agreement “a win for the American people” after “seven weeks of fruitless attempts,” a characterization that Democrats would have thumbed their nose at heading into the shutdown.
“This wasn’t about making healthcare an issue,” said Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), a Progressive Caucus vice chairman. “This was about making sure people’s premiums aren’t going up.”
ACTIVISTS DEMAND SCHUMER STEP DOWN WITH HAND-DELIVERED PETITION TO DC OFFICE
There is a notable bright spot from Democrats in the weeks ahead as they search for a pared-back extension of subsidies that could win over enough Senate Republicans. Democrats are more united on healthcare messaging, as Republicans grapple with how seriously to negotiate over a program they believe is the cause of high insurance costs rather than the solution.
“This is a fight that the Republicans need to understand is not just happening in Nevada,” said Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), a centrist who helped cut the shutdown deal. “It is happening across the country in every state, including those red states. If they do choose not to come to the table, they can own the disastrous premium increases that will continue to rise.”
Lauren Green and Rachel Schilke contributed to this report.