Party prepared to risk government shutdown and will not support GOP bill unless cuts to healthcare are reversed
It has been nine brutal months for congressional Democrats.
Relegated by voters to the minority in last year’s election, they have been powerless to stop Republicans from acting on Donald Trump’s demands to fund an immigration crackdown, strip money for foreign aid and public media, and downsize Medicaid, which provides healthcare to poor and disabled Americans.
That is set to change next week. Funding for the government expires on Tuesday, but Democrats have refused the GOP’s demands to support legislation keeping it open unless the majority agrees to reverse the Medicaid cuts, restore funding to public media and extend subsidies for Affordable Care Act (ACA) plans.
It’s helpful to keep in mind that there’s nothing democratic about the DNC it’s just a bunch of old people colluding with corporations and propping up geriatrics as a vanity show. They haven’t even offered their voters the illusion of representation in decades. They are all cooperators in this. They do budget show downs every year, at this point it’s just to create some bond volatility.
Its the party trying to maintain the current system and improve it incrementally. The real problem is that as long as the republicans win they have no real incentive to improve much. If republicans perennially lost to the point of being inconsequential the party would quickly split.
I’ve been on this planet for almost 40 years now and frequently talk to my 95 year old grandma about politics and world affairs. Things stopped getting incrementally better a long time ago and have gotten incrementally worse. We made small advances forward in between giant leaps back the last 25 years. All of this dictatorship business has been planned and implemented slowly over decades. The degradation of the middle class has been a bipartisan effort. There’s really no more room to pretend like trumps charisma has carried this strange new world, and not the careful planning of the political class and the billionaire class… supported by the millionaires thinking they can be in the club. It’s just self perpetuating rot on both sides.
improvements happen but its been two steps back and one forward since reagan and more more like 3 since bush jr and now we seem to be taking a dozen back. Take out the republican controlled periods and we would have advanced pretty decently and that is without all the time wasted recovering all the back steps.
Then incrementalism has either failed or has succeeded in making things worse.
righty oh. need to get rid of those pesky forward steps to really make progress. /s
You support an ideology that has failed. Spectacularly. If you support incrementalism knowing how useless it is, it’s because you like how useless it is.
Except it has. Incrementally. We still have the affordable care act, we still have a bevy of rights (for now). It could be better but its better than worse. Worse is strangely, worse than better. I have yet to see any alternative do anything effective. Maybe if it does someday it will mean something but for now its just folks blowing hot air.
Incrementalists make sure that can’t happen.
I agree with that for the most part. Democrats never solved the inequality, education, and Fox News indoctrination in time. I see no way out of it at this point. That’s on them for focusing on small minority issues instead of policy that helps the majority of voters.
I agree with what I believe to be your meaning. They often would latch onto small or fringe things when education, healthcare, work rights, and such would help so much more. If you look at something like gay marriage its like great and all but there was so many fixes at the state level and such that it did not do much but give a feel good victory. Meanwhile obamacare with the pre existing conditions booted had likely a much more beneficial effect for people who were gay. Gun control is another one. I mean both are things I believe in but education, healthcare, work rights, safety nets in general is what helps the most.
Obamacare: our biggest legislative victory in over 20 years. Results are in it consolidated power in the hands of insurance companies who abused it for profit.
Boy you obviously did not have medical bills before or after. Its requirement on money going to care and limiting profit make a big deal along with the no prexisting conditions and required care. Unfortunately 2017 was about the best we saw of it. It actually was sorta good to get things approved end of year as the insurers had to meet their spend or give it back.
I defaulted on $20,000 worth of medical debt in 2015 and paid it off for like $2,000 to a creditor. My medical debt from pre-Obama care came with me ❤️ my deductible was $13,000 and I never hit it with Obama care. I just paid for the appointments and the additional insurance fee. So yeah, I guess maybe my experience was different than some.
Gay marriage was actually a great one for the dems, it was already popular. They didn’t even push it. They waited until it was safe and then moved it through. Took credit for a public change in perspective that they did not participate in. If they cared about education, they could’ve easily restored it after Bush left, but they conveniently let everyone become illiterate. They’ve always just had really poor stances on guns, never the kind of compromising policy that would actually be entertained by anyone.
We all believe in education, workers rights, civil rights, infrastructure: at least for ourselves. The only people that don’t believe in that shit we keep electing to Office. It’s both sides of the party. They both believe in making a lot of money for the people that donate to them and keep them in power.
There are people in office who believe in these things and its the majority of democrats. Its reductionist to just wave that they all don’t care. That being said there are some obvious corporate handouts that go on but many of those came from crises that further came from deregulation.
It’s reductionist to call the government taking your rights away a two party system when one of them is in control and breaking the system. Wake up honey there’s no constitutional law anymore. The democrats are just there to keep you from rioting until 2027. After that it won’t matter.
Obama care was a personal favorite. It forced me to pay the government $3000 for not having insurance, or paying an insurance company $3000 a year for having worthless insurance I wasn’t going to use. Like we easily could do Medicaid for all and regulate pharmaceutical companies insurance companies. We could open competitive government run options to keep insurance honest and away from Medicare…. We chose like the health care plan that benefited insurers and inspire Luigi
No doubt medicaid for all would be better and even a public option (which the dems pushed for) would be a bit better. Obamacare is better than before it though with pre-existing conditions and everything being denied. Now it has gotten worse but that was because the republicans kicked out the requirement which had a cascading effect on insurers which had a cascading effect on hospitals. I will not say its awesome or what we should have but half a loaf is better than no loaf. Its a good example of incremental change unfortunately its also a good example of a step forward followed by a step back.
Just going to point out that health care quality in my experience has gone down since 1999
Let’s look at this democratically, if you are not part of the 50% of this country that is being pushed into poverty, how on earth are you going to protect your assets when it’s 60-70% of this country that’s been pushed out of the middle class? We are at the point of wealth inequality where it makes no sense for the average citizen to keep voting to subsidize billionaires businesses and tax returns. Yet we still get massive turnout for status quo. Watching you assholes vote to transfer my wealth and future to a billionaire every year to protect a suburban lifestyle that is as parasitic to your country and planet as could be imagined. I’m not trying to come to terms with anyone lol I don’t speak for a political ideology I’m just a disgusted American who has been completely disenfranchised from society in the last 30 years. All the ladders pulled up and you think your spot is this society is safe. Yes literally all of you are my enemy. Squandered the education that a great nation gave you and watch as a dictator erases your history and rights lmfaooo. I’m just want to witness the divine retribution for everyone’s folly. We’re past the point of redemption. We’d look better as a radioactive crater than we do right now: and judging by the posture of leadership, I think that one is still on the table. Personally I’d just pray to your god as we set the table for WW3
I don’t know what spot you think I have in society but when it comes to a choice between better or worse I choose better. What specific action did you take that if everyone took would solve all this? I voted for the better choice and I think if everyone had we would not have had reagan and bush jr and trump. We would still have regulation (and not have the economic collapses from deregulation) and 911 would not have happened (clinton/gore were well aware of al kaida as a danger) and we would be working globally on the environment and climate change.
The democrats preyed on the culture war first. They used it to cement their base. This is their monster too. It was easier to stalemate controversial topics than provide leadership, and lawmaking.
Im not sure if they preyed on it first. I mean there is plenty of stuff that goes waaaayyyyy bck. But yeah its bad and a both sides thing, or as close to one as your gonna get. Basically politics is bad.
Ya true, to be more fair, they had a great run with culture war 2006-2016
I’d argue Democrats have instead intentionally hampered any real progress, not trying to improve it “incrementally.” Or at least, they sure don’t seem to mind when the Republicans stop them from doing anything worthwhile over the last 20 years.
I disagree. Last 20 years have had 12 years of democrats which resulted in obamacare, dodd-frank, end to don’t ask don’t tell, fair pay act, daca, iran nuclear deal, paris accord, restoration of cuban relations, loan forgiveness (despite all the stuff knocked down they still got the save plan), getting rid of non competes. Yeah and some were knocked down by republican actions but thats the problem. Then you add that a lot of time was dealt with stimulus from the bad economic practices of republicans again and having to wind down their wars. Its like your blaming them for not improving the building when they have to spend most of the time putting out the fires. Get rid of the people starting the fires and plenty of progress can be made.