Copyright Augusta Free Press
Eight Senate Democrats are caving on the 40-day effort to try to protect Affordable Care Act subsidies. One of them is one of ours, Tim Kaine, who just got re-elected last year, so, doesn’t have to worry about facing the voters again until 2030, if he were to actually run for another term in 2030 – and, pro tip here: don’t. “This deal guarantees a vote to extend Affordable Care Act premium tax credits, which Republicans weren’t willing to do. Lawmakers know their constituents expect them to vote for it, and if they don’t, they could very well be replaced at the ballot box by someone who will,” Kaine said in a statement on a compromise agreed to by a group of eight Senate Democrats that includes, and if this doesn’t tell you how much snake oil we’re being sold here, John Fetterman, on Sunday. So, we’re “guaranteed” a vote on extending the ACA subsidies, which, wonderful. We’re also guaranteed that this vote, if and when it happens, won’t get a Senate majority, and even if it did, it wouldn’t get a floor vote in the House – if the House ever returns to work. And if, somehow, some way, this ACA extension were to get past these two hurdles – Donald Trump, amirite? ICYMI Congressional Democrats ask for extension to Open Enrollment deadline So, what do we get for 40 days of government shutdown – what do the 42 million people who rely on SNAP to put food on their tables get; and what about the hundreds of thousands of government employees having to report to work while missing paychecks? Ah, yes, we get a show vote on the ACA subsidies, an agreement from Republicans that they’ll fund SNAP through September, and another shutdown deadline looming on Jan. 30, for Trump, Mike Johnson and John Thune to use to get the likes of Tim Kaine to find something else to bend over backwards to give them. It’s as if this past Tuesday didn’t happen – that Virginia didn’t elect Abigail Spanberger in a landslide, that New Jersey didn’t elect Mikie Sherrill in a landslide, that New York City didn’t elect Zohran Mamdani and retire Andrew Cuomo forever. ICYMI Message sent: Democrats sweep Virginia, New Jersey, New York City races on historic night Gotta say, my enthusiasm for Spanberger, already diminished, five days into her transition. “The government needs to open, and it needs to open immediately. We need the president to demonstrate leadership, bringing people together, endeavoring to get through whatever negotiations need to get through, whether it’s before or after,” Spanberger said on the CBS news show “Face the Nation” earlier in the day on Sunday, adding, after she was asked whether congressional Democrats should view this week’s victories at the polls as a sign that voters support their push to reach a deal extending the ACA subsidies, said: “Absolutely not.” “Our victory was a victory that was based on a campaign that was addressing concerns related to costs and chaos,” Spanberger said, adding later: “Virginians need to and Virginians want to see the government reopen, and my expectation is that we will see a Congress, a Senate and ultimately a president driving us in that direction.” Narrator: yes, we want to see the government reopen; we also don’t want to see our health-insurance premiums go up several hundred dollars per month so that Trump and his benefactors can get even richer while we can’t afford to go to the doctor. Kaine, in his statement announcing his support for the deal, touted “provisions Kaine fought for to protect the federal workforce, including rehiring federal employees who were terminated during the shutdown, providing back pay for all federal employees regardless of their status, and preventing future Reductions in Force.” Holy bejeezus, wouldn’t this have been part of any deal that Republicans – who Trump conceded as the vote counts were coming in Tuesday night had lost bigly because of the shutdown – would have had to eventually make, before tucking their tails between their legs? Seriously, this is what we get – a shit sandwich? Not surprisingly, Mark Warner, who does face a re-election battle in the 2026 cycle, voted against the deal. How much you wanna bet Kaine is taking the fall, and Warner is playing the hero, just for appearance’s sake? I know, I know – no bookie would take that bet. “I cannot support a deal that still leaves millions of Americans wondering how they are going to pay for their healthcare or whether they will be able to afford to get sick,” Warner said in a statement. “We owe the American people more than a short-term fix that leaves working families staring down a healthcare crisis, and simply kicking the can down the road is not good enough. Families are already struggling with rising prices on everything from groceries to housing. I will keep working in the Senate to bring costs down and relieve the pressure on working families who are already paying more because of President Trump’s policies that are driving prices up instead of lowering them.” I’d be with him on that, if it didn’t feel politically expedient that Kaine is the heel, so Warner gets to be the babyface, ahead of a re-election – and I don’t know what the hell Spanberger is doing, blowing through political capital before she even takes the oath of office. But, hey, we get a show vote, to use as fodder for the endless TV ads next fall that will make us hate all of them even more. Once again, Democrats can’t help but step on their own dicks.
