The Democrats were furious Monday over eight senators who caved to support a deal to end the government shutdown that does not include the Affordable Care Act subsidies their party had spent weeks fighting for.

The offending lawmakers include Democratic Senators Dick Durbin, Tim Kaine, Jacky Rosen, John Fetterman, Catherine Cortez Masto, Maggie Hassan, Jeanne Shaheen, and independent Senator Angus King, who claimed that they’d ensured a Senate vote on extending the tax credits. Their capitulation comes after House Speaker Mike Johnson insisted for weeks that he wouldn’t promise them a vote on anything, and even if he does follow through with a vote, it’s unlikely such a measure will pass the House.

Democratic lawmakers slammed their colleagues for forfeiting health care coverage for an estimated 5.1 million Americans by 2034 and increasing premiums across the marketplace.

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders railed against the deal while speaking before the Senate Sunday. “If this vote succeeds, over 20 million Americans are gonna see at least a doubling in their premiums in the Affordable Care Act,” he said. “For certain groups of people, it will be a tripling and a quadrupling of their premiums. There are people who will now be paying 50 percent of their limited incomes for health care. Does anybody in the world think that makes sense?”

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[–] 308 points 9 months ago (44 children)

"We ensured a vote!"

Bullshit. Even if the vote happens, it won't pass, and even if it did, Trump could veto it. This was the one chance to save the ACA and also to really damage Trumpism. The shutdown was devastating to the GOP and the Dems would have won eventually just like in 2019, but instead these 8 traitors are handing the country over when they've just had their only real opportunity to fight this administration.

Fuck them all. Every single one of them should be ejected from the caucus.

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  • [–] 144 points 9 months ago (15 children)

    They held out for 40 days just to torture ppl who need benefits

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  • [–] 37 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    Yep and Leadership sit this up so it look like it was 8 traitor. These were all safe seats. Its goddamn conspiracy. Fuck Chuck.

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  • [–] 23 points 9 months ago (3 children)

    And this is why we need to shout down and muppet that blindly parrots "vote blue no matter who." These folks rely on the flawed assumption that electing Democrats is the fastest way to fight authoritarianism. But if the party is actually just a scam? If it's just controlled opposition? You have no great options at that point. At that point your only option is to ignore the fake opposition and push for a new left wing party, even if it takes you 20 years to implement. Voting for a captured opposition party is little more than an act of masturbation.

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  • [–] 20 points 9 months ago

    Voting is hilariously low effort. Always vote for the best option available. If you don't actually like who you voted for of course you should advocate for a new party and/or voting system, but you should still vote in the meantime

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    [–] 163 points 9 months ago (6 children)

    Somebody pointed out last night that it's no coincidence that it was exactly 8 senators and conveniently none of them are up for reelection in 2026... It's enough to make one wonder which other senators also need to be primaried even though they flew under the radar.

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  • [–] [S] 33 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (4 children)

    Only 13 Dem senators are up for re-election in 2026, so I don't think its that surprising that none of the 8 that voted for this aren't.

    I would say it's more surprising that

    1. Any Dems caved at this point before at least seeing how the showdown between Trump and the courts would play out.

    2. There have been a lot of fingers pointed at Schumer for his lack of leadership in uniting the party. While I think there's more than enough to criticize him for (being so shitty about Mamdani, especially during the shutdown being the first and foremost thing I would say shows poor leadership), I have to say I'm holding off immediately jumping to that conclusion.

    It may be true, and even though I don't really trust Schumer in many ways, the reason I hesitate to immediately jump on the bandwagon in this case is because of the specific Democrat that was the first to start parroting this narrative, and has continued to parrot it as loudly as possible since last night.

    I read this article around midnight last night:

    https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/trump-takes-aim-obamacare-historic-federal-shutdown-hits-40th-day-2025-11-09/

    Sunday's deal was brokered by Democratic Senators Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen, both from New Hampshire, and Senator Angus King, an independent from Maine, said a person familiar with the talks.

    Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, the chamber's top Democrat, voted against the measure.

    Many Democrats on the Hill watched the deal unfold with displeasure.

    “Senator Schumer is no longer effective and should be replaced,” wrote U.S. Representative Ro Khanna on X. “If you can’t lead the fight to stop healthcare premiums from skyrocketing for Americans, what will you fight for?"

    I hesitate to trust Schumer because it seems like he has reached a point in his career where he (along with many establishment Dems) is too quick to sell out core values. However, I do think Schumer honestly may have held those values at one point in his career, but became too comfortable with the status quo.

    On the other hand, Ro Kahnna has no values. He was never supposed to be trusted in the first place, and when I see the media refer to him as a progressive it makes my fucking blood boil. He exists to serve the interests of Peter Thiel, and his own interests/Palantir investments, by keeping Thiel rich and happy.

    Broken clocks and what not, so he could be right in this instance. However, knowing how Theil uses the media to manipulate public opinion, and this sneaky mother fucking snake in the grass, being the first to already have that narrative ready to go from the jump, and the media being so quick to help him spread it, makes me suspicious as hell.

    What reason did those 3 senators possibly have to suddenly cave, and broker that deal on Sunday fucking night after we went into the weekend with the very public back and forth on SNAP?

    And then for the other 5 to join them voting for it. It's clear where Fetterman's loyalty lies, but the other 7 Democrats that voted for this seriously couldn't just wait for the public to know that the circuit court sided with the original ruling to pay SNAP in full? Why is that?

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    [–] 76 points 9 months ago (18 children)

    MAGA tried to hold the Dems hostage, demanding our health care as ransom, and if we didn't comply, the richest in America would LITERALLY starve the poorest in America, to death.

    Instead of caving, the Dems held out, and won a MASSIVE election victory, then, with all their new political capital, they voluntarily flushed it down the toilet, and gave MAGA everything they wanted, and got absolutely nothing in return.

    Schmuck Schumer has to go, and every cowardly Democrat must be primaried. A handful need to be brought back (Bernie, AOC, Frost, Crocket, et al), but the rest can go.

    I'm so sick of these weak, cowardly Democrats. No wonder MAGAs hate them, and bully them. They have no self-respect at all. Truly pathetic.

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    [–] 73 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    California Governor Gavin Newsom summed the situation up the most succinctly. “Pathetic,” he wrote on X Sunday.

    Even Newsom is piling on?

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  • [–] 58 points 9 months ago (6 children)
  • [–] 28 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    Only reach out to them if you are actually in their state. When they receive a flood of calls from people around the country, it's easy for them to write it off and claim they're just getting brigaded and it's not something their actual constituents disagree with.

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    [–] 39 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    They used to kill politicians for less.

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  • [–] 39 points 9 months ago (14 children)

    They may have been "protecting" the filibuster. If Republicans removed the filibuster, it would pave the way for Democrats to do the same thing. If Democrats were to lose the excuse of the Republican filibuster stopping them from passing legislation, they'd be forced to reveal that there are many more fucking disingenuous pieces of shit just like Manchin and Sinema ready to tank progressive legislation.

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    [–] 37 points 9 months ago (5 children)

    What the fuck was the point of the shutdown if the Dems are just going to capitulate to whatever republicans want? This was their one bit of leverage and they pissed it away.

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    [–] 32 points 9 months ago* (1 child)

    Oh man they're really feeling torn into! I bet they're sitting in their mansions just racked with guilt and shame over how upset their constituents are! I'm sure they feel just awful for their staffer who has to reply to all the messages they get with a bland, form letter that addresses none of their questions or concerns.

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    [–] 28 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

    Textbook definition of controlled opposition


    Some rambling thoughts:

    For all the screeching about 3P leading up to the election, NOW might be the time to drive something like the Working Families Party (that helped elect Zohran) forward and purposefully fragment the Dems at a federal level. What is there to lose? They're compromised and failing to pose any kind of opposition while Nazis literally control every facet of federal government (and are definitely fucking with elections). Splitting the party would act as a dead man's switch that puts pressure on the Dems to shift left and form a coalition or officially die as a party.

    Realistically, ~3% support would be enough to be a serious threat. Remember that MAGA started with the joke of a tea party

    I'm not saying this is a perfect idea, this is just an angry shower thought in response to the Dems. But I wanna know your thoughts, agree or disagree

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    [–] 28 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    Which one of these senators has a primary opponent?

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  • [–] 74 points 9 months ago (6 children)

    My understanding is none, because they chose members who are already retiring for this

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  • [–] 29 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    Fetterman isn't a Democrat anymore. He will likely get voted out next term, regardless.

    King is not a Democrat.

    Masto is barely a Democrat, but that's what her constituents wanted.

    Shaheen is retiring.

    Durbin is retiring.

    Rosen and Kaine have not announced retirement, so they are interesting. Rosen just won a very close race in Nevada, so she either tried to appease conservative voters there or thinks she is gone anyway. No idea what Kaine is thinking.

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    [+] 26 points 9 months ago
    [–] 25 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    To be fair it was 7 Democrats and one turn-coat, John Fetterman.

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    [–] 17 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    What we'll never hear is what those eight received in their personal bank accounts. They weren't so much "holding out" as negotiating.

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    [–] 13 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    Dems prove once again that they have NO IDEA how to represent the people who voted for them... or even just like, make themselves even slightly likable.

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