How Democrats Backed Themselves Into a Shutdown

"That congressional Democrats would force this confrontation became clear almost from the moment they ducked a clash over spending with Republicans in March. Back then, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer convinced just enough of his members that a government shutdown would empower President Donald Trump to govern even more heedlessly and punitively than he already was. The blowback was intense. Rank-and-file Democrats-and even some party leaders-accused Schumer of surrendering one of the party's only remaining levers in Washington without a fight."

"They have no more power to extract concessions from Trump than they did six months ago. Democrats find themselves in the same unenviable position that Republicans were in during the Obama years, when they routinely took the government's funding (and, at times, its credit rating) hostage to pick fights that party leaders knew they could not win. The GOP provoked a shutdown in 2013 to deny funding to the Affordable Care Act;"

A government shutdown began at 12:01 a.m., marking the sixth closure in three decades. Congressional Democrats initiated the confrontation after abandoning a spending clash in March and pressing for extended ACA subsidies. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer persuaded enough members that a shutdown might check President Donald Trump's actions, prompting intense intra-party criticism for relinquishing leverage earlier. Federal offices will close and employees will go unpaid, with potential job losses if administration actions reduce the workforce. Democrats lack greater bargaining power with the president than six months ago and face political risks similar to Republican shutdown tactics during the Obama years.

Read at The Atlantic