U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) speaks as Senate Democratic leaders hold a press conference following their weekly policy lunch, amid the continuing U.S. government shutdown, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., October 28, 2025. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper
At this hour, enough Senate Democrats seem willing to cave to give Republicans the 60 votes they need to end the shutdown without agreeing to Democratic demands to restore Obamacare subsidies starting next January.
IMHO, this is really stupid.
Democrats hold all the cards. As even Trump admitted after Tuesday’s blowout, voters chose Democrats across the board because of the shutdown — which voters are blaming on Republicans.
Given this, why in hell should Democrats cave?
Senate Democrats never voted for Trump’s Big Ugly bill that removed the Obamacare subsidies (among many other travesties) because Republicans used a process called “reconciliation” which allowed them to pass the Big Ugly with a bare Senate majority and no Democratic votes.
So now that Democrats finally have some bargaining leverage, why would they give it up?
Yes, some Americans are hurting right now because of the shutdown. But do Senate Democrats really believe that Americans will hurt any less when government is reopened and Trump and his sycophants and lapdogs can hack away at whatever programs they dislike?
I admire Senate Democrats’ soft hearts but not their soft heads. I hope there’s still time for them to regain their mettle.
Robert Reich is a professor of public policy at Berkeley and former secretary of labor. His writings can be found at https://robertreich.substack.com/.