After This Shutdown Surrender, Chuck Schumer Needs to Go

"Last Tuesday, voters all over the United States sent a resounding message: They were sick of Donald Trump, sick of the Republican Party's attacks on what remains of the American welfare state (seen most clearly in the ongoing government shutdown as well as threats to gut Medicaid), and wanted their elected representatives to do something about the affordability crisis making their lives harder."

"So now, less than a week after voters loudly repudiated Trump, how are Senate Democrats-including minority leader Chuck Schumer-responding? By negotiating a shutdown deal with Republicans that will give Trump almost everything he wants, entrench the GOP's austerity budget, and deepen the affordability crisis. Democrats might ask themselves how it is that they won the election but ended up giving away the store-or, rather, they might ask themselves that if they were not so practiced at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory."

"Republicans control the House of Representatives and need only eight Democrats in the Senate to override a filibuster and clinch a deal. Further, Trump is almost uniquely depraved in his willingness to inflict pain on poor people (including by cutting SNAP benefits, a policy that directly increases hunger) and throwing the country's infrastructure into chaos (with airline services starting to be curtailed as air traffic controllers were laid off)."

Voters across the United States expressed anger at Donald Trump and Republican attacks on the remaining American welfare state, fueling Democratic landslides in Virginia and New Jersey and a democratic socialist victory in New York City. Senate Democrats, including minority leader Chuck Schumer, negotiated a government re-opening deal with Republicans that concedes many GOP priorities, enshrines austerity budgeting, and risks deepening the affordability crisis. Democrats faced a structurally weak hand because Republicans control the House and need only eight Senate Democrats to overcome a filibuster. Trump pursued policies that cut SNAP benefits and destabilized infrastructure by allowing layoffs of air traffic controllers.

Read at The Nation