The federal government is almost certainly headed for a shutdown at midnight Wednesday as congressional leaders fail to reach an agreement on a bill to keep government agencies funded.
The New York Times reported Tuesday that the current Republican-written funding bill would keep the government funded through Nov. 21, and is awaiting action in the Senate, where it needs 60 votes to reach President Donald Trump's desk. Because Republicans only have 53 seats, the bill would need seven Democrats to break ranks to pass. And because Republicans have not allowed Democrats to have input on the current legislation, the bill's passage is unlikely.
During a Tuesday segment on CNN, longtime Republican pollster Frank Luntz said that while voters are most likely to blame both parties in the event of a shutdown, there are also particularly dangerous circumstances of shutdowns that can wreak havoc on everyday Americans.
"The one aspect that matters more than any other in a shutdown is whether or not Social Security checks are delivered to recipients," Luntz said. "That would make people go nuts if that were to happen. So that's always the single biggest risk. And the second is if military, if our men and women in uniform are not paid for their service. There would be a level of anger there."
Luntz went on to say that while Trump's polling numbers have not been "great," Democrats have polled even worse, and he doubted that either party would fare well in the event the government shuts down. He described the prevailing attitude among voters in his focus groups as "a plague on both your houses."
CNN host Boris Sanchez observed that Democrats have called for an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies to keep health insurance premiums affordable. Currently, those subsidies are set to expire by the end of the year, and premiums could spike for millions of Americans should they not be renewed. Luntz said Republicans could pay a political price for the ACA subsidies depending on how the issue is defined in the coming weeks.
"In the end, the public does not want to pay as much as they have to for their healthcare ... Food, fuel, housing and healthcare are the four key areas that the public is watching day by day to see how much things cost," Luntz said. "And the issue of affordablity is no less important now than six months ago, or a year ago during the elections ... There are ways for the people to pay less, and for Washington and the government to cost less."
Watch the segment below: