The last time Senate Democrats found themselves taking the blame for a government shutdown, they quickly caved and raced to reopen federal agencies in 2018, as their more moderate members demanded a fast resolution after only three days.
This shutdown could be different.
The Democrats from red states who decried the shutdown strategy as a foolish miscalculation and pressed for an immediate reversal in the showdown with President Trump seven years ago are long gone.
The ideological makeup of the party has shifted to the left, and Democrats are now bracing for an extended confrontation with the White House and congressional Republicans, despite the clear political risks. The same dynamic is at play in the G.O.P., which has lurched to the right under Mr. Trump and no longer sees room for compromise.
Democrats believe they have a powerful message on health care, with some Americans set to face soaring premiums unless Republicans agree to extend federal subsidies under the Affordable Care Act. They shrugged off Mr. Trump’s threat to engage in the wholesale firing of federal workers, saying he would do so regardless of the status of government funding.
And Democrats do not see much benefit in providing the votes for a temporary spending extension, since Mr. Trump and his budget czar, Russell T. Vought, have already demonstrated that they are willing to spend federal dollars — or not spend them, as the case may be — however they want, no matter what Congress says.
They have so far done so with little pushback from Senate Republicans.
“How could we negotiate a bipartisan agreement and then have the president unilaterally through impoundment, or the Republican Party through rescissions and the president unilaterally through pocket rescissions, undo it all without any input,” Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, asked as he explained Democratic resistance.
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The post A More Polarized Senate Drives Shutdown Gridlock appeared first on New York Times.
