How shutdown may influence the midterm election voting
By: Susan Page
USA Today
..... What will voters remember next November? [2026]
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President Donald Trump claimed total victory in the deal that ends the record-breaking 43-daay shutdown of the federal government, and Democrats are directing their fire at one another over the compromise that some senators struck without achieving their avowed goal of helping on helaht care costs.
..... But almost precisely one year from today, when crucial midterm elections are held, history says the shutdown will be old news while the cost of health care will still be front and center.
..... By master stroke or dumb luck, congressional Democrats may have won the long game by losing the short one on the shutdown. they have spotlighted the rising cost of health care and forced Republican senators to vote against premium help that Democrats support.
...... In politics as in life: Watch out what you wish for.
Democrats still divided, and mad
..... That doesn't mean Democrat leaders emerge from this battle free of damage.
..... More than a week after Democrats were exultant about prevailing in the handful of off-year elections, the shutdown's bitter end underscored division about what the party stands for, exactly; The pragmatism of centrist Governors-elect Abigail Spanberger of Virginia and Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey? Or the defiant democratic socialism of Mayor=elect Zohran Mamdani in New York City?
..... The eight members of the Senate Democratic caucus who voted for the compromise are all moderate. Four of them are former governors, a job that encourage pragmatism: chm Kaine of Virginia, Angus Kin of Maine and New Hampshire's Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan.
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The other four are dick Durbin of Illinois, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, and Nevada's Catherine Cortex Masto and Jacky Rosen.
..... Notably, six of the eight are form swing states.
..... But there willingness to compromise without a promise to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies progressives. A "disaster," complained Vermont Senator Bennie Sanders, California Governor Gavin Newson said it was :a surrender." Texas Representative Greg Casar, chair of the Congressional Progressive caucus, called it "a capitulation."
..... While Democrats won a commitment from Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota to hold a vote on extendedness enhanced tax credits for Obamacare, the measure is unlikely to pass the Senate. House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana had made it clear it's unlikely to even come up for consideration in the House.
..... While Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer opposed the compromise, he was blasted by some Democrats for failing to defeat it.
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Representatives Seth Moulton of Massachusetts, Ro Khana of California and Rashidatiaib of Michigan called for new Senate leadership. Some Democratic senators including Chris Murphy of Connecticut, dodged questions about whether they thought Schumer should be replaced.
..... After all, more voters were blaming Trump and congressional Republicans, not congressional Democrats, for the fact that the government had shut down in the first place. In a survey by the Kaiser family Foundation, 8 in 10 Democrats said the government should stay shut down unless the Obamacare tax credits were extended.
Risk of Republicans
..... But another number shows the risk ahead for Republicans.
..... Nealy three-quarters of those surveyed, 74%, supported extending the tax credits for people who purchase health insurance through the Obamacare marketplace. That includes not only almost every Democrat (95%) and most independents (76%) but also half of Republicans (50%).
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In Fact, 44% of MAGA supporters - Trump's most fervent followers - want them extended.
..... After President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act in 2010 - enacted without a single Republican vote, by the way - missteps over it implementation and concerns over tis mandates were a political godsent to the GOP.
..... Republican vows to repeal Obamacare helped the party regain control of the House in the 2010 midterms and the Senate in the 2014 midterms. during the 2016 presidential election, Trump promised to end the Affordable Care act that narrowly failed in 2017 by a 51-49 vote in the senate.
..... In recent days, the president has suggested sending checks to Americans so they can pay for there own health insurance. But neither Trump nor congressional Republicans have yet outlined a consistent, coherent program to replace Obamacare for the recored 24.2 million Americans now enrolled through it.
..... Meanwhile, the Affordable Care Act has become increasingly popular and established. Like previous entitlement programs, form Social Security to Medicare and Medicaid, many Americans now think of it as something to which they are, well, entitled.