Previous performances of Shutdown Theater featured Republican cast members following a familiar script.
Threats of a shutdown followed by tears and handwringing by Democrats, usually involving pleas beginning with, "The Children! The Children!"
But this time, the roles are being reversed, and Democrats are making threats about shutting down the government at the end of this month.
Democrats are meeting on Wednesday to plan a rehearsal schedule and finalize the cast.
“We look forward to our conversation with Leader [Chuck] Schumer and Democratic leaders in the Senate later on this afternoon, as we enter into a more intense phase around the spending showdown in advance of the end of the fiscal year,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters Wednesday.
Democrats are hoping to avoid a repeat of their major flop last March when Republicans outmaneuvered Schumer and Jeffries, forcing them to accept their spending and tax package with barely a whimper. Democratic partisans gave the performance of their party in Congress a "thumbs down" as Republicans walked away with barely a scratch.
Once again, there will be some kind of continuing resolution (CR) to get the performance over the hump. How long and how much are the questions (not exactly "to be or not to be").
Senator Schumer told reporters, "What the Republicans have proposed is not good enough to meet the needs of the American people — and not good enough to get our votes.”
Which proposal, Chuck? Donald Trump wants a deal that will run through January 31, while Republican congressional members are looking at a much more modest proposal to fund the government through November.
“Democrats have always said we need to meet the needs of the American people, particularly when it comes to costs and health care costs,” Schumer said. He called on Majority Leader John Thune to “sit down with us and negotiate a bipartisan bill that meets these needs.”
Republicans are proposing a "clean" stopgap bill with no bells and whistles to run through November. Jeffries claims that's a "non-starter."
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) strongly suggested Wednesday that Democrats would oppose an extension of current government funding levels if Republicans go that route to avoid a shutdown.
Jeffries and House Democrats were fervently opposed to a Republican-only funding bill in March, warning it would undermine federal programs at the expense of low-income people.
With that in mind, Jeffries said merely extending those same levels of funding, as a continuing resolution (CR) is designed to do, is likely to hit another wall of opposition with Democrats.
“In March, House Democrats strongly opposed the partisan Republican spending bill that hurt everyday Americans in a variety of ways, including making their health care more expensive,” Jeffries said during a press briefing in the Capitol. “A continuing resolution that continues the failed policies of the Republican Party that we voted against is not the type of policy that actually meets the needs of the American people.”
Meanwhile, Republican cast members are grumbling about the CR and the leadership's inability to bring individual spending bills to the floor for a vote. Speaker Mike Johnson is looking to rectify that situation with a novel plan to couple the CR with three or four spending bills that have been reported out of committee and await a floor vote.
“If we are able to get that conference going, then you would have three bills there,” Johnson told reporters.
The bills could include funding for veterans affairs, the Agriculture Department, and military construction.
“We’re not interested in just a CR by itself,” Rep. Tom Cole, Appropriations Committee chairman, said Tuesday. “I want to move some product as well, to show good faith with our members that we are moving things.”
The healthcare debate never favors Republicans. This one won't either.
A major part of the health care debate revolves around ObamaCare tax credits scheduled to expire at the end of the year. Those subsidies currently benefit more than 22 million patients, whose premiums are expected to skyrocket if Congress doesn’t extend the credits.
Many Democrats think the issue must be addressed this month, since premium rate letters tend to go out in October. That information is likely to influence the decision of patients to sign up for plans — or not — during ObamaCare’s open enrollment period, which launches before the tax credits expire. Jeffries suggested that’s one of the red lines determining Democratic support for a spending bill this month.
“The open enrollment period begins in less than two months. It begins on Nov. 1,” he said. “So this is one of many issues that should be addressed urgently by the United States Congress.
This very well could be the script change that Democrats would be willing to close down the whole show over. It's not very good optics for Republicans to fight against big subsidies for health insurance plans while Democrats trot out single women and their children ("Oh! The Children! ") saying they can't afford doctors' bills.
Republicans will probably try to compromise, allowing some means-tested subsidies. But that plan faces many hurdles, including Republicans who want to kill Obamacare altogether.
