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“Pathetic”: Dems Tear Into 8 Senators Who Caved to Trump on Shutdown (newrepublic.com)

submitted 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) by AcidiclyBasicGlitch@sh.itjust.works to c/news@lemmy.world

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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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[-] chiliedogg@lemmy.world 300 points 3 weeks ago

"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.

[-] ieatpwns@lemmy.world 144 points 3 weeks ago

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

[-] Buffalox@lemmy.world 10 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

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

Maybe when you lose your healthcare you will understand why they did it.

Edit:
Edited the post to include what I responded to, because it seems people miss the context.
I clearly support the attempt to save ACA. Not the 8 senators that quit.

[-] ieatpwns@lemmy.world 69 points 3 weeks ago

Are you implying I don’t already need the affordable care act? Because I do. They acted like they wouldn’t fucking cave for 40 days then these 8 go and say meh fuck it who cares. wtf was it all for then?

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[-] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 8 points 3 weeks ago

Sure, they held out all that time, so they could get a massive midterm victory, just to completely surrender all their new political capital.

While American citizens see that election as a victory, Democrats don't really see it that way. That was a Progressive victory, and the Dems look at it as almost as big a loss as the MAGAs do. They weren't about to keep holding out, and giving the Socialists another victory to run on 2028.

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[-] justOnePersistentKbinPlease@fedia.io 41 points 3 weeks ago

They know it won't pass.

They're relying on the old tactic of them getting that vote, then blaming progressives for failing to get it passed.

[-] nymnympseudonym@piefed.social 9 points 3 weeks ago

They're not evil and old like Trump They're just old and unable to fight a post-truth populist like Trump

They don't understand how important it is to never show capitulation

[-] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 58 points 3 weeks ago

Do not give them excuses. They were bought out at the very least. They held on this long knowing why, they gave up for probably a monetary reason. Maybe threats, because he's the mob. Threats are the only reason I will accept.

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[-] nondescripthandle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 24 points 3 weeks ago

They're not confused, they're not cowards, they know what will happen, they are complicit.

[-] ameancow@lemmy.world 20 points 3 weeks ago

If your actions are indistinguishable from evil, you are evil.

There is no way these people don't know how many lives they're going to ruin and end with this vote. There is no way they actually believe they're going to get the ACA tax credits from the political party that let the government shut down over the issue. Functionally evil is the same as evil.

[-] flandish@lemmy.world 8 points 3 weeks ago

they are capitalists. they are career politicians. they. are. evil. anyone who ever says “the dems and reps are different” is a documented dumbass. this is proof that all parties are effectively right wing.

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[-] MonkeMischief@lemmy.today 8 points 3 weeks ago

I bet they'd have voted differently if they needed SNAP and had to get a "marketplace" healthcare plan.

Our "public servants" cannot represent us when they're a part of their own elite, untouchable socioeconomic class.

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[-] NauticalNoodle@lemmy.ml 161 points 3 weeks ago

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.

[-] AcidiclyBasicGlitch@sh.itjust.works 34 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

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

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

[-] khannie@lemmy.world 17 points 3 weeks ago

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.

There are only 48, right? And of those 13 are up for re-election. That's better than 1 in 4. To look at 8 defectors and none of them be up seems..... Highly coincidental at best.

[-] zarenki@lemmy.ml 12 points 3 weeks ago

For this to happen by pure chance, that 8 randomly selected people from a group of 48 includes none of the 13 that are up for re-election, the odds are 6.2%. Not impossible but unlikely enough to doubt it's a coincidence.

(For math people: this can be modeled as a hypergeometric distribution with N=48, K=13, n=8, k=0.)

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[-] fodor@lemmy.zip 9 points 3 weeks ago

I think your interpretation about Schumer's actions just doesn't match reality. Presumably he doesn't control those eight people, but he does have inside knowledge, and he could have framed things differently. If the Democrats had gone public with several plans first and then they caved, then it might have been understandable. If Schumer is a leader with any power whatsoever, he should have set that up when he realized that he was going to lose support from those 8 senators. Or if he's a leader without any power, then he's not actually a leader and he needs to remove himself from that position.

I think we know exactly what he was doing because we've seen him act this way before. so if it looks like he's flaking out again then probably that's what happened. Of course our intuition is not proof, but we don't need proof.

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[-] lando55@lemmy.zip 25 points 3 weeks ago

All of them. There should be repercussions of allowing our elected representatives to fall into such a dysfunctional state as to shut down the government.

Make them all earn their jobs back, as it's clear they are ineffectual as-is.

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[-] Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 19 points 3 weeks ago

It also won't be a coincidence when they're seen sailing their new yachts.

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[-] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 76 points 3 weeks ago

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.

[-] acchariya@lemmy.world 22 points 3 weeks ago

They are not cowardly, they are part of the same team as their so called opponents. Different flavors, same late stage capitalism.

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[-] Resonosity@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 3 weeks ago

Never underestimate the Dems' ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

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[-] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 9 points 3 weeks ago

its the fact the congress flights were getting threatened thats why they cave.

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[-] Substance_P@lemmy.world 56 points 3 weeks ago

For those of you American's who might want to contact these Senators to give them some feedback:

https://www.cortezmasto.senate.gov/contact/connect/

https://www.fetterman.senate.gov/contact/ https://sengov.com/pennsylvania/john-fetterman/

https://www.kaine.senate.gov/contact

https://www.rosen.senate.gov/email-jacky/

https://www.hassan.senate.gov/contact

https://www.shaheen.senate.gov/contact/contact-jeanne

https://www.durbin.senate.gov/contact/

https://www.king.senate.gov/contact

[-] half_fiction@lemmy.dbzer0.com 28 points 3 weeks ago

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.

[-] PeacefulForest@lemmy.world 13 points 3 weeks ago

Nah they are supposed to represent the Democratic Party, and they just caved and took some sort of pay out from the Trump administration. So they can kiss my ass and hear what I have to say

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[-] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 12 points 3 weeks ago

They don't care, they aren't up for re-election, that's why Schmuck Schumer had them vote Yes, so he could vote No, and try to pretend that he was shocked by this.

He's Senate Majority Leader, he not only knew about it, he was steering it. This is 100% him.

Fire the cowardly bitch.

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[-] theparadox@lemmy.world 41 points 3 weeks ago

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.

[-] Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world 12 points 3 weeks ago

It's "oops all manchins" as far as I'm concerned,

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[-] Daxelman@lemmy.zip 38 points 3 weeks ago

They used to kill politicians for less.

[-] FenrirIII@lemmy.world 16 points 3 weeks ago

We used to know how to deal with aristocrats and bad politicians

[-] peppers_ghost@lemmy.ml 37 points 3 weeks ago

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.

[-] FlyingCircus@lemmy.world 13 points 3 weeks ago

Yep, with one maneuver, this just became the Dem shutdown. Why were they holding out unless they just wanted to hurt people?

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[-] Witchfire@lemmy.world 30 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

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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[-] PeacefulForest@lemmy.world 28 points 3 weeks ago

I cannot fucking believe it. -Jon Stewart

[-] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 28 points 3 weeks ago

Which one of these senators has a primary opponent?

[-] HuntressHimbo@lemmy.zip 74 points 3 weeks ago

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

[-] dogslayeggs@lemmy.world 28 points 3 weeks ago

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.

[-] vateso5074@lemmy.world 16 points 3 weeks ago

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.

Never discount the possibility of blackmail, too.

[-] Rhaedas@fedia.io 8 points 3 weeks ago

If "they" chose these members to do this, why are "they" now mad at them? Either this was not a planned move by Democrat leadership and they should be pissed, or... well, while I don't think the Democrats are all that great, I won't slip into the "both sides" or "it's the same party" mindset, as they hardly are comparable and that's a very deep conspiracy to think that this was the plan all along.

[-] nondescripthandle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 42 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

https://prospect.org/2025/11/08/why-does-schumer-keep-trying-to-cave-government-shutdown/

This article says they moved with the explicit approval and knowledge of Schumer.

https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3m5bpyndmlp2u

This links to a clip on Fox news where Shaheen confirms they informed Schumer of their moves every step of the way. It's not just a few bad apples, the bunch is rotten.

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[-] HuntressHimbo@lemmy.zip 10 points 3 weeks ago

Sorry should have been more specific, they in this case refers to senate leadership, specifically Chuck Schumer, but also including anyone else involved in negotiating the 'deal'

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[-] rayyy@piefed.social 23 points 3 weeks ago

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

[-] dogslayeggs@lemmy.world 13 points 3 weeks ago

6 Democrats, 1 turncoat, and 1 Independent.

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[-] Profligate_parasite@lemmy.world 13 points 3 weeks ago

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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[-] WanderWisley@lemmy.world 12 points 3 weeks ago

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[-] lechekaflan@lemmy.world 9 points 3 weeks ago

Fucking expel them.

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