The deal to end the government shutdown, which is currently the longest one in American history, revealed a "sad truth" about the state of the Republican Party, according to one analyst.
On Sunday, 10 Democrats announced they plan to break ranks and support a deal to end the shutdown. The deal includes voting on a series of short-term funding bills to keep the government open into January, and an agreement to vote on the expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies in December, according to reports.
Will Saletan, writer-at-large for The Bulwark, and Tim Miller, the outlet's managing editor, discussed the deal on a new episode of "The Bulwark Podcast" on Monday.
To Saletan, the deal was clear evidence that the Republican Party doesn't care about the pain its policies inflict on average Americans, like letting food assistance benefits expire.
"The sad truth is that the Republican Party doesn't care as much about the pain as the Democratic Party does," Saletan said. "I think we can say they pretty much don't care at all. And you can call that a political weakness, and I guess it is. But if you are doing the right thing, that will always be a political weakness."
Saletan also addressed the Democratic uproar over the deal.
"I don't have a problem with this deal," he said. "I just don't have a problem with it. There were people losing SNAP benefits, people going hungry for God's sake, and all the federal employees who were out of work. Obviously, there's the air traffic problem."
"The Democrats did not sell out forever," Saletan continued. "They made this deal until the end of January. That's it."