Thanks for this. It is very bad. I do like your good news - that this terrible event is a dividing line between old and young Dems. Hope you are right about that. I am 73 and am so tired of us Boomers struggling and failing to keep up with the emerging future. C'mon youth!
What do you mean “us” boomers? This Boomer hasn’t stopped fighting since the Civil Rights movement for equality and fair treatment be it race, gender, class or disability. And I know plenty of Boomers like me. Our job is to provide support and advice from our experiences and mistakes, not just “retire” from the fight.
As a boomer, until recently, I’ve been tired of the younger generation drifting to the trump side, until now. I hope they maintain their pivot to something more progressive, and keep the momentum going.
If you think the “Shutdown Deal sucks,” imagine yourself a SNAP recipient, making $15 an hour choosing between food and rent. I had a friend for whom
I did the math. We weren’t even thinking of health care at the time. It may give you a different perspective. Trump IS trying to starve the poor, so the 1939 FDR Depression law that was the origin of SNAP must be restored.
It does suck. However, Dems care more about their constituents than the GOP do. The bill has a 5 step process so I am told which at any point along the way, the fence jumpers can change their votes. We really need to have Adelitta sworn in which, they'll have do upon reopening. We still have momentum....
Johnson will do precisely what Fat Donny tells him to do, whether it’s legal or not. And since we have just gotten a(nother) demonstration that NOBODY is going to challenge him, he feels — and not unjustifiably so — that he can do whatever he wants and dare you to stop him. And surrendering isn’t going to bring back the $330 billion they slashed from SNAP, or the TRILLION they slashed from Medicaid, so guess what? Ben Franklin said that “Those who would surrender essential freedoms for the promises of some temporary security deserve neither”. This isn’t the exact use case he was talking about, but the promises are every bit as empty as the shoudl of this president.
The vote of last Tuesday has rocked Donny a bit. Also some House Republicans want to keep their seats in ‘26 and know they are on shaky ground after last Tuesday.
The Democratic governors are doing a good job of Donny Watch as are the courts and voters who protest constantly in person, with phone calls, or in writing. This 91-year old writes a minimum of 10 GOTV postcards a day and frequently sees the results. There seems always to be an election somewhere in some state to send postcards to voters. Some are small—mayor of Mobile,AL, but all are building blocks to a Dem win of the House and Senate in ‘26. Check on TonyTheDemocrat, who gives biographies, detailed instructions, and addresses.
Bless you for your post this morning. It resonated with me and gave me hope and fortitude and a way forward with the frustration and anger. Rebuilding is where Dems need to focus, I agree. Not a reset. And I especially liked the last sentence of your post :)
The first thing I did this morning was cancel my monthly donations to the DSCC. That money can be better spent on individuals rather than this messed up caucus.
I stopped in January. The only $ goes to my Representative who fights and uses any extra funds to support other Reps like her in less secure districts (something she has been very clear about to her donors).
The point if this bill is two fold. 1) it releases SNAP funds. 2) the ACA automatically expires on Dec. 31st. This bill requires a vote to expire the ACA.
The other good news is that the cr provides funding only through January, at which time (and after the busy holiday travel season), we can look forward to another shutdown. At that point, Republicans will have certainly betrayed their promise to address the ACA subsidies, people will actually be paying the higher premiums or going without health insurance, and we can more convincingly - and closer to the midterms - pin the blame and the pain on the GOP. Let’s all take a breath. This is just a chapter, not the whole story.
Yes - the rest of the world must think we are pathetic pieces of crap right now — starving people, taking away their healthcare, laying off Fed employees, over the holidays. Scrooge-like. What a horrid mess!
You can (and we should) pin the blame the livers of the GOP, but the pain? That’s non-partisan and it won’t be felt by the ones with $175K jobs (plus free stock tips) in Congress. When they decided that THIS TIME FOR SURE Lucy wasn’t gonna yank away the football, we ALL landed flat on our backs with the wind knocked out of us.
The only thing that might come out of this is the rim satisfaction of knowing that Walmart’s probably gonna have a terrible Black Friday.
Can’t say I see any good news here and can’t see how we’re really any better off than if the shutdown had never happened. What, a pinky promise for a plan for an outline of a vote? That’s what we got from the longest shutdown in history ? It’s way over time of completely new leadership in the Democratic Party.
Thanks Mike. Trump and the Republicans are cruel...it is on full display. They can't erect an East Wing demolition wall to block this out. Even MAGA felt this. As long as the rest of us keep protesting and fighting we will prevail. POWER TO THE PEOPLE.
I don't think that the Shutdown will be ending anytime soon. That would require a corresponding vote in the House, which would require a reopening of the House, which would mean that Johnson would have to swear in Ms. Grijalva, which would likely (although not certainly) lead to a House vote on the resolution to force the release of The Epstein Files, which is the very last thing on Earth that Trump wants. And Johnson does precisely what Trump wants.
You’re right in that Johnson will do exactly as he’s told by his Lord and Master, but even if he swears in Adelita Grijalva, and she is the 218th signature on the discharge petition (which she will be) all that does is force a floor vote in the House to release the Kraken. It still has to clear the Senate — with its de facto 60-vote threshold, and assuming that happens, Fat Donny can simply veto the bill. The act that we’re even having this fight suggests that the Epstein thing is more distraction than anythign of actual substance, but it is a pain point for him, which in itself makes it worth pursuing.
Fully agree (on all points), but Johnson is surely hoping not to be put on the Epstein Files spot. And yes, Trump would certainly veto any bill on this one, but even he surely would not want to have to do that.
This is just a vote to have a debate on the legislation. If public pressure can turn just one Dem (or maybe even a slightly more reasonable Repub (Collins? Murkowski?-is there one?), the legislation will fail-as it will have only 59 votes. And if it passes the Senate, just 3 Repub defections in the House would sink it-Thomas Massie, for one, is always a possibility for an anti-Trump, party-bucking vote. And then there are the vulnerable repubs in swing districts. So don’t panic yet, or let your anger overtake you. Instead, flood the offices of the 8 turncoats (and if your Senator is a republican) with phone calls and e-mails demanding that they vote against the bill unless extension of healthcare subsidies are in there, in some form. Remember-we just need one Senator (especially one of the 8) to change their yes to a no.
No, this was a vote to END debate on the legislation (a cloture vote). Actually PASSING the legislation only requires a simple majority once debate has concluded and the measure is put to a vote of the full Senate. This is why budget bills can be passed “in reconciliation” — because they don’t require a cloture vote as long as the bill sent from the House isn’t amended.
The filibuster actually began with senators (one or more) actually speaking in front of the body to extend “debate”, though there was no requirement that what they spoke about be related to the legislation at hand. The point was to “talk the bill to death”, and all that was required was to hold the floor until (a) you ran out of things to say or (b) a 3/5 majority got sick enough of listening to you that they voted to shut you up. In that era (which was not all that long ago, relatively speaking — no pun intended) filibusters weren’t automatic, and were really only used if you were Storm Thurmond absolutely dead set on killing civil rights legislation. (Thurmond holds the record for longest talking filibuster at, I think 25 hours and change?)
More recently, a filibuster by the minority party is just assumed, which is where the idea of a 60-vote threshold coms from. But the filibuster has no basis in law. It’s simply a rule of the Senate that says cloture requires a 3/5 majority vote. And it can — and in limited cases HAS — be repealed by (ironically) a simple majority. Harry Reid did away with the filibuster for non-SCOTUS confirmation votes because MitchMcConnell was stonewalling every Obama appointee to come into the Senate. Mitch McConnell extended that to include SCOTUS confirmations when he needed to jam three partisan hacks through confirmation before election day. But nobody — so far — was willing to resort to the nuclear option” on legislation — and they still aren’t. Apparenlty not even Fat Donny Two-Times can convince them of that one.
But with the cloture vote won, it will only require 51 votes to pass the budget bill. At which point everyone — E-V-E-R-Y-ONE — who isn’t rich is, putting it plainly— fucked.
Yes Mike — ALL of the above!!! My first thought after the disgust and anger was that this can lead to the end of the old guard and open doors for the younger, more progressive-thinking candidates. We have to keep hope alive.
Great post, Mike. Much needed. Thank you. Mikie Sherrill also dropped a great statement (text only-- don't know if she made a corresponding IG or TikTok) opposing the deal. It's a great read.
As you pointed out-- R's have the ultimate "advantage" in these scenarios-- they simply don't care one iota about the people they claim to represent.
I am not happy about the deal. And other things. I cannot bring myself into affinity with farmers. They voted for Trump. No doubt farmers would be a lot smarter had they gone to Trump University. Let farmers eat soybeans. Soybeans are a great source of protein.
“All of us who are dismayed by the present state of the union, this is no time to give up,” Biden declared. “It’s time to get up. Get up now, get up.”
If you have become overwhelmed, rely on my 2 buckets to sanity. 2 buckets says stay in the fight. We are winning with a year to midterms. If you stay in, we will shut them down.
I have a contrarian opinion: maybe the Democrats calculate that when the average person sees this shut down drag on, flights cancelled for Thanksgiving, starving children etc., they'll blame ALL of congress and not just the R's. Maybe they calculate that it's BECAUSE OF the success of the D's on election day that the tide is turning and that Trump may not be as intimidating to the R party and finally there can be some bipartisanship. If they're wrong and the R's renege again, then all bets are off. Thoughts?
I did think of this. I was hoping since they know more about this process than I do that maybe they were trying to show the voters of both parties who is trying to help them. I’m tired of this for sure. Why is MAGA so awful
8 DACO's - Democrats ALWAYS Chicken Out!!!! Pretty hard to defend your own goal when you have 8 players who actively work to help the other side score on you (who are also hurting their own constituents and they don't care about them either). Lesson to Trump and Republicans: Do whatever the hell you want, Do not ever give in to Democrats, Eventually some Democrats will DACO and you can move on with your agenda!
Thanks for this. It is very bad. I do like your good news - that this terrible event is a dividing line between old and young Dems. Hope you are right about that. I am 73 and am so tired of us Boomers struggling and failing to keep up with the emerging future. C'mon youth!
What do you mean “us” boomers? This Boomer hasn’t stopped fighting since the Civil Rights movement for equality and fair treatment be it race, gender, class or disability. And I know plenty of Boomers like me. Our job is to provide support and advice from our experiences and mistakes, not just “retire” from the fight.
As a boomer, until recently, I’ve been tired of the younger generation drifting to the trump side, until now. I hope they maintain their pivot to something more progressive, and keep the momentum going.
Been to every protest here in MI. Not ever 1 person under 50 in sight. Yes, it’s us boomers carrying the fight forward.
If you think the “Shutdown Deal sucks,” imagine yourself a SNAP recipient, making $15 an hour choosing between food and rent. I had a friend for whom
I did the math. We weren’t even thinking of health care at the time. It may give you a different perspective. Trump IS trying to starve the poor, so the 1939 FDR Depression law that was the origin of SNAP must be restored.
It does suck. However, Dems care more about their constituents than the GOP do. The bill has a 5 step process so I am told which at any point along the way, the fence jumpers can change their votes. We really need to have Adelitta sworn in which, they'll have do upon reopening. We still have momentum....
Agreed on all counts. We can only push our reps the minute they are back. I noticed Johnson didn’t mention the swearing in this morning. Gotta happen!
Johnson will do precisely what Fat Donny tells him to do, whether it’s legal or not. And since we have just gotten a(nother) demonstration that NOBODY is going to challenge him, he feels — and not unjustifiably so — that he can do whatever he wants and dare you to stop him. And surrendering isn’t going to bring back the $330 billion they slashed from SNAP, or the TRILLION they slashed from Medicaid, so guess what? Ben Franklin said that “Those who would surrender essential freedoms for the promises of some temporary security deserve neither”. This isn’t the exact use case he was talking about, but the promises are every bit as empty as the shoudl of this president.
The vote of last Tuesday has rocked Donny a bit. Also some House Republicans want to keep their seats in ‘26 and know they are on shaky ground after last Tuesday.
The Democratic governors are doing a good job of Donny Watch as are the courts and voters who protest constantly in person, with phone calls, or in writing. This 91-year old writes a minimum of 10 GOTV postcards a day and frequently sees the results. There seems always to be an election somewhere in some state to send postcards to voters. Some are small—mayor of Mobile,AL, but all are building blocks to a Dem win of the House and Senate in ‘26. Check on TonyTheDemocrat, who gives biographies, detailed instructions, and addresses.
What is it? $6.81 a day?
If you mean SNAP food allowance, I think it varies.
Bless you for your post this morning. It resonated with me and gave me hope and fortitude and a way forward with the frustration and anger. Rebuilding is where Dems need to focus, I agree. Not a reset. And I especially liked the last sentence of your post :)
thank you Mike 👍💪
40 days of suffering -- for NOTHING.
That's the gift these quislings have given the Republicans to run on.
God forbid senate and congress should endure delayed or cancelled flights during holiday season. It’s really that simple.
The first thing I did this morning was cancel my monthly donations to the DSCC. That money can be better spent on individuals rather than this messed up caucus.
I stopped in January. The only $ goes to my Representative who fights and uses any extra funds to support other Reps like her in less secure districts (something she has been very clear about to her donors).
FYI, I just got her public response to the 8. Essentially, hell no if there is no guarantee for continuing the health care subsidies.
Same Here ! ! ! ! My family is debating sitting out the midterms since voting does not seem to matter.
It matters only if enough are like minded to participate
That is a gift to the trump regime that they dream about.
The point if this bill is two fold. 1) it releases SNAP funds. 2) the ACA automatically expires on Dec. 31st. This bill requires a vote to expire the ACA.
The idea behind this vote is that as Dec 31st, the ACA automatically expires. This bill forces senators to go on record to get rid of the ACA.
The other good news is that the cr provides funding only through January, at which time (and after the busy holiday travel season), we can look forward to another shutdown. At that point, Republicans will have certainly betrayed their promise to address the ACA subsidies, people will actually be paying the higher premiums or going without health insurance, and we can more convincingly - and closer to the midterms - pin the blame and the pain on the GOP. Let’s all take a breath. This is just a chapter, not the whole story.
Yes - the rest of the world must think we are pathetic pieces of crap right now — starving people, taking away their healthcare, laying off Fed employees, over the holidays. Scrooge-like. What a horrid mess!
You can (and we should) pin the blame the livers of the GOP, but the pain? That’s non-partisan and it won’t be felt by the ones with $175K jobs (plus free stock tips) in Congress. When they decided that THIS TIME FOR SURE Lucy wasn’t gonna yank away the football, we ALL landed flat on our backs with the wind knocked out of us.
The only thing that might come out of this is the rim satisfaction of knowing that Walmart’s probably gonna have a terrible Black Friday.
Maybe
Can’t say I see any good news here and can’t see how we’re really any better off than if the shutdown had never happened. What, a pinky promise for a plan for an outline of a vote? That’s what we got from the longest shutdown in history ? It’s way over time of completely new leadership in the Democratic Party.
Thanks Mike. Trump and the Republicans are cruel...it is on full display. They can't erect an East Wing demolition wall to block this out. Even MAGA felt this. As long as the rest of us keep protesting and fighting we will prevail. POWER TO THE PEOPLE.
I don't think that the Shutdown will be ending anytime soon. That would require a corresponding vote in the House, which would require a reopening of the House, which would mean that Johnson would have to swear in Ms. Grijalva, which would likely (although not certainly) lead to a House vote on the resolution to force the release of The Epstein Files, which is the very last thing on Earth that Trump wants. And Johnson does precisely what Trump wants.
Johnson’s god is Donald Trump. He’s a devout Christian like Herod was a devout Jew.
You’re right in that Johnson will do exactly as he’s told by his Lord and Master, but even if he swears in Adelita Grijalva, and she is the 218th signature on the discharge petition (which she will be) all that does is force a floor vote in the House to release the Kraken. It still has to clear the Senate — with its de facto 60-vote threshold, and assuming that happens, Fat Donny can simply veto the bill. The act that we’re even having this fight suggests that the Epstein thing is more distraction than anythign of actual substance, but it is a pain point for him, which in itself makes it worth pursuing.
Fully agree (on all points), but Johnson is surely hoping not to be put on the Epstein Files spot. And yes, Trump would certainly veto any bill on this one, but even he surely would not want to have to do that.
This is just a vote to have a debate on the legislation. If public pressure can turn just one Dem (or maybe even a slightly more reasonable Repub (Collins? Murkowski?-is there one?), the legislation will fail-as it will have only 59 votes. And if it passes the Senate, just 3 Repub defections in the House would sink it-Thomas Massie, for one, is always a possibility for an anti-Trump, party-bucking vote. And then there are the vulnerable repubs in swing districts. So don’t panic yet, or let your anger overtake you. Instead, flood the offices of the 8 turncoats (and if your Senator is a republican) with phone calls and e-mails demanding that they vote against the bill unless extension of healthcare subsidies are in there, in some form. Remember-we just need one Senator (especially one of the 8) to change their yes to a no.
No, this was a vote to END debate on the legislation (a cloture vote). Actually PASSING the legislation only requires a simple majority once debate has concluded and the measure is put to a vote of the full Senate. This is why budget bills can be passed “in reconciliation” — because they don’t require a cloture vote as long as the bill sent from the House isn’t amended.
The filibuster actually began with senators (one or more) actually speaking in front of the body to extend “debate”, though there was no requirement that what they spoke about be related to the legislation at hand. The point was to “talk the bill to death”, and all that was required was to hold the floor until (a) you ran out of things to say or (b) a 3/5 majority got sick enough of listening to you that they voted to shut you up. In that era (which was not all that long ago, relatively speaking — no pun intended) filibusters weren’t automatic, and were really only used if you were Storm Thurmond absolutely dead set on killing civil rights legislation. (Thurmond holds the record for longest talking filibuster at, I think 25 hours and change?)
More recently, a filibuster by the minority party is just assumed, which is where the idea of a 60-vote threshold coms from. But the filibuster has no basis in law. It’s simply a rule of the Senate that says cloture requires a 3/5 majority vote. And it can — and in limited cases HAS — be repealed by (ironically) a simple majority. Harry Reid did away with the filibuster for non-SCOTUS confirmation votes because MitchMcConnell was stonewalling every Obama appointee to come into the Senate. Mitch McConnell extended that to include SCOTUS confirmations when he needed to jam three partisan hacks through confirmation before election day. But nobody — so far — was willing to resort to the nuclear option” on legislation — and they still aren’t. Apparenlty not even Fat Donny Two-Times can convince them of that one.
But with the cloture vote won, it will only require 51 votes to pass the budget bill. At which point everyone — E-V-E-R-Y-ONE — who isn’t rich is, putting it plainly— fucked.
You Said It! This was the final betrayal !
Yes Mike — ALL of the above!!! My first thought after the disgust and anger was that this can lead to the end of the old guard and open doors for the younger, more progressive-thinking candidates. We have to keep hope alive.
Great post, Mike. Much needed. Thank you. Mikie Sherrill also dropped a great statement (text only-- don't know if she made a corresponding IG or TikTok) opposing the deal. It's a great read.
As you pointed out-- R's have the ultimate "advantage" in these scenarios-- they simply don't care one iota about the people they claim to represent.
I am not happy about the deal. And other things. I cannot bring myself into affinity with farmers. They voted for Trump. No doubt farmers would be a lot smarter had they gone to Trump University. Let farmers eat soybeans. Soybeans are a great source of protein.
“All of us who are dismayed by the present state of the union, this is no time to give up,” Biden declared. “It’s time to get up. Get up now, get up.”
If you have become overwhelmed, rely on my 2 buckets to sanity. 2 buckets says stay in the fight. We are winning with a year to midterms. If you stay in, we will shut them down.
https://hotbuttons.substack.com/p/too-much-two-buckets-to-sanity?r=3m1bs
I have a contrarian opinion: maybe the Democrats calculate that when the average person sees this shut down drag on, flights cancelled for Thanksgiving, starving children etc., they'll blame ALL of congress and not just the R's. Maybe they calculate that it's BECAUSE OF the success of the D's on election day that the tide is turning and that Trump may not be as intimidating to the R party and finally there can be some bipartisanship. If they're wrong and the R's renege again, then all bets are off. Thoughts?
I did think of this. I was hoping since they know more about this process than I do that maybe they were trying to show the voters of both parties who is trying to help them. I’m tired of this for sure. Why is MAGA so awful
8 DACO's - Democrats ALWAYS Chicken Out!!!! Pretty hard to defend your own goal when you have 8 players who actively work to help the other side score on you (who are also hurting their own constituents and they don't care about them either). Lesson to Trump and Republicans: Do whatever the hell you want, Do not ever give in to Democrats, Eventually some Democrats will DACO and you can move on with your agenda!
The best possible outcome is MAGA might have to vote on the Epstein files--if Squeaker Mike, Thune and Bone Spurs haven't figured a way around it.