LOS ANGELES (OC).–When the Republican House returns to Washington tomorrow to sign onto the Senate’s Nov. 9 bill to reopen the federal government, Democrats won’t be happy, hoping to get the House to sign onto the Senate bill and end the stalemate that began Oct. 1. Democrats refused to sign onto a usual continuing budget resolution [CR], the usual way Republicans and Democrats resolve budget disputes. Democrats refused to sign onto the Republican CR because they did not restore $1.5 trillion in Medicaid and Obamacare funding. Eight Democrats joined Senate Republicans in voting 60-40 to end the government shutdown, returning essential government workers back to work, like air traffic controllers and Transportation Security personal. Only yesterday 2,000 flights were cancelled and 6,000 delayed because of inadequate air traffic control and Transportation Security.
Democrat members of the House are still angry over the eight moderates that thought the government shutdown was hurting essential government workers like air traffic controllers, who, only recently, had two thousand cancellations and 6,000 delays. If the shutdown went on beyond the 42 days, it could cause irreparable harm to the air traffic control system, damaging an already fragile economy that already starting shedding jobs, prompting the Federal Reserve Board to start cutting interest rates. High volume airports like Atlanta, Newark, Denver, Chicago, Houston and Los Angeles were already seeing significant cancellations and flight delays due to a lack of air traffic controllers and Transportation Security. Yet many Democrats feel they got nothing out of the 42-day shutdown, failing to get Republicans to agree to restore $1.5 trillion in Medicare and Obamacare cuts.
Republicans are all onboard with the new CR to keep the government funded for at least three months during which Democrats and Republicans can discuss and negotiate to restore $1.5 trillion in Medicaid and Obamacare funding. Democrats thought they could hold the country hostage until Republicans agreed to reinstate the lost funding. So when Democrats say that eight colleagues sabotaged their strategy to reinstate Medicaid and Obamacare funding, Fortunately, Republicans have a slim majority, if House Democrats decide to vote as block to continue the shutdown. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has his work cut out for him getting the House to approve the new Senate bill. When will the public realize that House and Senate Democrats shut down the government Oct. 1 as a strong-arm tactic to get Republicans to resinstate Medicaid and Obamacare funding.
When Johnson gavels the House together tomorrow, don’t expect a lot of House Democrats to voter for the Senate bill. House Democrats still think the best way to get Medicaid and Obamacare funding restored is to coerce Republicans. House Republicans haven’t come to grips yet that the July 4 Big Beautiful Bill was overly zealous in slashing Medicaid and Obamacare funding. That happened because OMB Director Russell Vought was part of the conservative Heritage Foundation that drafter Project 2025, a blueprint for saving the government from bankruptcy. Vought badly miscalculated Democrats response to cutting Medicaid funding, but, more importantly, the damage it creates to the health care industry dependent on government funding. Government funded health care creates millions of good paying jobs, not to mention proving medical care.
Whether or not House Democrats wish to stop the Senate bill, they don’t have the votes to stop Johnson from getting the bill to Trump’s desk. If Trump really backed the government shutdown so strongly, why would he readily agree to sign the Senate bill. Trump recognizes that the GOP was handed a big defeat Nov. 4 in the off-year election, actually elected socialist Zohran Mamdani as New York City mayor. Trump knows how his approval ratings have dropped recently with Democrats and the fake news making a strong case against him. Continuing the shutdown only hurt Republicans said recent polls. Democrats would have liked to keep the shutdown going because it was scoring political points. After losing to Trump in 2024, Democrats looked for any silver lining, especially when it comes to adding seats and flipping the House in 2026.
Reopening the government has already paid dividends for Wall Street rocketing up 381 points to a near record high of 47,368, another sign that markets like ending the shutdown. Democrats would keep the shutdown going until Republicans were forced to cough up the $1.5 trillion in lost Medicaid and Obamacare funding. “To all my colleagues—Democrats and Republicans in the House—you need to begin right now returning to the Hill,” said Johnson. “We look forward to the government reopening this week so Congress can get back to its regular legislative session,” Johnson said. Johnson sent Republicans home after the Oct. 1 shutdown, knowing his Democrat colleagues refused to sign on to a new CR to reopen the government. Democrats actually thought they could boycott the government until Republicans decided to restored $1.5 trillion in health care cuts.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
