No. of Recommendations: 7
Let me play it the other way. When the economy goes toes up, or Social Security checks stop arriving, or whatever it is that works now that doesn’t work later happens - and it is *bound* to happen, because when you “move fast, break things” you (by definition) “break things.”
When that happens the Republicans will point and say “Hey, the Democrats voted for it too!”
Yeah, and that won't work. Voters know who's in charge of the government, and they know that the GOP wrote this bill and forced the Democrats to choose between a shutdown or letting them shape the bill. They own the consequences far more in this scenario, and no escape from the tariff policy or DOGE cuts, if the Democrats don't shut down the government.
If you think this budget is a bad idea, you have to stand up and say so. I assume the Democrats think what’s going on is a bad idea (either that or we need a real opposition party), then it’s time to stand for what you believe in, even if you lose.
Sure. Which is why the vote in the House made sense. All the Democrats opposed it. And that was the smart play, because of what would happen if they had succeeded in stopping the bill from passing. The GOP would have taken most of the blame, since they had the ability to pass the bill without Democratic votes, and they would have owned the shut down and wouldn't be able to stop it without the Democrats. Which translates into the GOP leadership having to sue for Democratic votes, and some policy wins.
In the Senate, though, you can't be concerned about what happens if you lose (ie. the bill passes over all your fighting). Because you can't lose - you absolutely have enough votes to stop the bill. You have to be concerned about what happens when you win, when you stop the CR and the shutdown happens. You piss off the majority of the country, they become convinced that you're willing to take a stand against them, even though you lost the election. The majority can't claim Democrats are responsible for what happens when a bill fails in the House, when they have the ability to pass things on their own - but they can claim that Democrats are responsible if they filibuster a bill to death in the Senate, because the minority does have power in that chamber. So Democrats have to live with the consequences of how they choose to exercise the power they have in the Senate (and not the House), and using that power in an unpopular way that hurts people is typically not a way to win the next election cycle.
If their most ardent core of voters lose trust in them because of this, then that can't be helped. The base can always cause their party to lose by insisting on punishing them if they don't do unpopular things.
