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Matthew Yglesias: Shut down the government to save health care
['Matthew Yglesias']
Hazleton Standard Speaker
A lot of Democratic voters are looking for a fight, and a lot of Democratic politicians are looking to accommodate them.
That means picking a fight on Democrats’ best issue, health care, at a time when Americans are crying out for action on the cost of living.
In last spring’s debate over the appropriations bill, Democrats calculated that House Republicans — with their narrow majority — would be unable to pass a spending bill on a party-line vote.
Democrats assumed this same dynamic would stymie House Republicans and create an opportunity for Senate Democrats to craft a bipartisan budget bill.
When that was done, Senate Republicans lined up behind it and dared Democrats to filibuster, which would have induced a government shutdown.