Shutdown Stalemates Follow a Familiar Script — and Democrats Know the Ending
“This is the right way to do it, senator? By people not getting paychecks at the TSA? This is extortion!”
CNBC host Joe Kernen, a conservative, did not mince words during a Wednesday segment with Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT). Asked if he was ready to vote to reopen the government yet, Welch replied, “You know, I’m not there yet. Because we have had literally, Joe, no discussion whatsoever about how we’re going to deal with the spikes in premiums.”
Kernen, clearly exasperated, shut him down. “This is the right way to do it, senator? By people not getting paychecks at the TSA? This is extortion! … In your conscience, you think it’s the right way to do it?”
WOW. When even CNBC is BLASTING Democrat Senators over their government shutdown, you know it's bad:
CNBC: "Are you ready to vote with the Republicans to reopen the government at this point, as a reasonable Democrat?"
SEN WELCH: "You know, I'm not there yet…"
CNBC:… pic.twitter.com/5ehdcUQdCW
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) October 29, 2025
Is it hyperbole to call what Democrats are doing extortion? Hardly — it’s an entirely accurate characterization. On the eve of the shutdown, Vice President J.D. Vance told reporters, “You don’t put a gun to the American people’s head and say, unless you do exactly what Senate and House Democrats want you to do, we’re going to shut down your government.”
We’ve seen a host of outraged Democrats caterwauling over President Donald Trump’s unwillingness to negotiate. Yet their demands — to undo Medicaid cuts and to extend COVID-era Obamacare subsidies set to expire at year’s end — are plainly unreasonable. Their position makes clear that Senate Democrats’ refusal to support a clean Republican spending bill is driven entirely by politics.
We know that because Democratic leaders have acknowledged as much. In a recent interview, House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (D-MA) admitted, “There will be families that are going to suffer … but it is one of the few leverage times we have.”
A number of Democratic leaders, including Sens. Bernie Sanders (VT) and Martin Heinrich (NM), have made similar statements. Another Democratic senator who requested anonymity told The Hill, “People are going to get hammered” if they vote to reopen the government.
Democrats have put themselves into an untenable position. They know they’re playing a losing hand and will, sooner or later, have to capitulate — just as every party that forces a government shutdown eventually does. A review of past shutdowns underscores this point.
In December 2018, Trump shut down the government to demand funding for a border wall. Democrats, who had won back control of the House one month earlier, refused to negotiate until the government reopened. After 35 days, Trump backed down.
In January 2019, Democrats, insisting that protections for Dreamers be included in a spending bill, shut down the government. This time, it was Trump who refused to negotiate until the government reopened. The Democrats caved after a three day shutdown.
In October 2013, House Republicans demanded that any spending bill include measures to defund or delay the Affordable Care Act. The standoff deepened when they refused to support an increase in the debt ceiling.
Then-President Barack Obama “vowed repeatedly not to pay a ‘ransom’ to get Congress to pass normally routine legislation.” The shutdown was resolved through bipartisan Senate negotiations. No changes were made to the ACA.
In December 1995, House Republicans forced a three-week shutdown to pressure then-President Bill Clinton into signing a balanced budget agreement. Suffice it to say, the move backfired on Republicans.
In every instance, the party responsible for triggering the shutdown ended up losing the fight — just as Democrats will ultimately lose this one.
We all know why it began. Well aware that Democrats would be blamed for the looming government shutdown in March, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer voted for the continuing resolution to keep the government open. Although he made the right decision, he faced fierce backlash from Democrats who accused him of caving to Trump.
Six weeks later, his favorability among Democrats had plunged to record lows, fueling speculation that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) might mount a primary challenge.
Determined not to repeat that episode, he chose to fight — but it hasn’t helped him. Never a particularly popular politician, even before his March vote for the continuing resolution, his current favorability rating in the RealClearPolitics average stands at just 27%.
Trump is not going to back down. Why would he? Just as the Republicans tried to cripple Obama’s signature bill back in 2013, the Democrats are trying to kneecap Trump’s big, beautiful bill, the cornerstone of his administration’s domestic agenda. He won’t let them.
So, the question becomes how much longer the people hit hardest by the shutdown will have to suffer to save Schumer’s political future.
On Monday, the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest federal employees’ union called on Democrats to reopen the government. Surprisingly, the move failed to sway party members who are now dug in.
But the public has begun to lose patience with Democrats. Their automatic and relentless “resistance” to virtually every Trump administration initiative is wearing thin. And it’s even showing up in the polls. As CNN data analyst Harry Enten reported on Tuesday, Republicans’ favorability among independent voters has increased by 8 points as the shutdown has dragged on.
The current shutdown was a serious political miscalculation for the Democrats. When they decided to pull the plug on the government more than five weeks ago, they forgot they were standing in water.
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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Comments
I think DemoncRats are waiting for local elections next week, in particular, NJ, VA and NYC. DemoncRats will most likely win in VA and NYC (i.e., Mandami), with NJ too close to call. Should the DemoncRats sweep all three, they will use that as leverage to try to scare the Republicans into acquiesing to their demands. (I keep asking why Republicans don’t change the filibuster rules for CRs; and I get downvotes for that. When the Republicans are out of power their attempts to filibuster CRs have only boomeranged on them, but when DemoncRats do the same thing they only get mild negatives because of the Maoist State Media. So for Republicans there is no upside for maintaining the filibuster on CRs.)
Don’t go down the slope of getting rid of the fillabuster for a CR. Its madness.
Because you can’t distinguish CRs from other resolutions. If you get rid of the filibuster for CRs, you’ve permanently killed it for all resolutions, if not for all legislation.
Look at the Dems’ ridiculous attempt to end it only for non-SC nominations, but keep it for one kind of nomination. That was always a joke. The Dems even admitted that the only reason they made that distinction was because there weren’t any SC vacancies expected, and that if a SC vacancy were to come up during their majority and the Reps filibustered it they would end it for that too. So naturally when a vacancy did come up, and the tables were turned, the Reps cleared away the sham distinction and ended it for all nominations. There’s no way to ever get it back for those. And the Dems now regret having done it.
The same would happen if you tried to end it for one kind of resolution and not all resolutions.
Isn’t this a bill? I always thought resolutions were a kind of statement made by either house thar did not have the force of law. When the budget is being debated, the filibuster cannot be used. Why isn’t the CR in the same category?
Yes, it is a bill.
The budget is an actual resolution, not a bill. As far as I know it can be filibustered.
But this is an appropriation bill, which can be filibustered.
What you’re think of is a reconciliation bill, which has a special rule exempting it from the filibuster; in return it can’t have anything that’s not directly relevant to the budget, it can’t increase the deficit, it can’t be used for discretionary spending, and it has a few other restrictions.
Just spit balling here but instead of removing the filibuster, modify the rules for reconciliation to allow CRs to take that path.
I don’t think the Democrats will gain much leverage from wins in the various races next week. Though Republicans have been occasional winners in those states and NYC it’s not like flipping a Republican House district to a Democrat, for instance, or voting out a popular GOP officeholder. It’s mostly been the failures of the Democrats that have given some life to the GOP in those races. In NJ Ciattarelli has been gaining on Sherrill thoughout the shutdown period which indicates the two events have no real connection. My personal feeling is they are going to keep the government closed mostly to ensure the agitation of fedgov employees in Virginia, and give them the day off to vote.
How would you modify the rules?
One possible approach would be to retain the filibuster but only as a speaking filibuster instead of requiring a 60 vote threshold for cloture to bring the bill up for a floor vote. Let the Senators opposed to a particular piece of legislation talk as long as they want to keep the vote at bay. Even a half dozen Senators could keep it up for quite a while if they did four hour shifts. Of course the more elderly/infirm Senators might lack the stamina for a prolonged filibuster but that’s on their voters for not selecting a more robust candidate.
They could restore the rules from a Century ago for filibustering, but the Rats could still keep a filibuster going for months, as they did long ago, and Mitch might not have the stamina to survive a 24/7 Senate session, and that would leave us a vacancy for at least 90 days. If this keeps up to Nov 15, I think the GOP will be forced to say enough! and make a rule that a clean short term CR can’t be filibustered.
On the other hand, having a Democrat continuously in the dock, VISIBLY and DELIBERATELY continuing to keep the government shut down, would be invaluable optics.
I don’t think the results of the elections next week changes anything. If the Rats win they will crow, but if they lose they keep going anyway, like Thelma and Louise.
Democrats as Jack said are waiting for the elections to see if this makes a dent. They totally suck but most Americans don’t care if the government is not in session. Only SNAP and EBT people of which over half are illegal aliens and non citizens care. Screw them
The silver lining of this shutdown is that Americans have learned the extent to which illegal aliens are receiving SNAP benefits. Democrats have claimed they were not, “because that would be illegal.”
And regardless of Tuesday’s elections turn out, nothing changes. If they win as expected in those 2 states, they will crow and demand more, and if they lose, they will say F it and just keep going. The Republicans will eventually be forced to change the rules. I say Nov 15 is probably about the limit.
And I think that Chucko Schmucko will be forced out as Dem leader when this is all over, and he won’t want to stay in the Senate as dethroned leader, so he will resign, and Hochul will appoint AOC to his seat.
Let’s Get Back To Basics:
The government should have nothing to do with healthcare insurance or care in the first place.
Republicans need to hold fast. The demonrats are being hammered. It’s already been 5 of the 7 week extension already. In order to pass the appropriations bills it will take another CR. demonrats have boxed themselves in to dead end canyon. They will run out of time to keep the Biden era keeping artificially low for the Obama exchanges.
So Chuckie’s choice is: do what the insane wing of his party demands, and lose to Trump; or be rational, and lose to AOC.
Karmageddon.
Bye, Felicia.
After hearing the illegals were getting full social security payments and medicaid the day they showed up.
HELL NO.
Keep it shut down forever before compromising.
It seems Ratface Schumer is so slimy, the glasses just keep sliding down its nose.