Democrats have been pounding social media lately to falsely claim that they did not shut down the government. It’s an odd claim since, at this point, all Democrat senators besides Sen. Fetterman have voted 15 times against the CR that would keep the government open. There’s no way to spin it: that “no” vote has been a vote to close the government and to keep it closed.
Democrats’ claim that Republicans closed the government gets even stranger when Democrats push their excuses for shutting down the government. Who needs excuses for something that they didn’t do? Democrats sure have put themselves into a pickle with this circular reasoning.
Recently, I have even seen Democrats, after claiming that Republicans, not Democrats closed the government, say that Republicans can use the nuclear option, end the filibuster, and open the government. This seems to be the Democrat fallacy de jour. Did they even think this “argument” through? It can be dispensed with as easily with a simple question: why would Republicans need to use the nuclear option if Democrats didn’t shut down the government? I think that we can leave that “argument” behind and move on.
Outside the pickle that Democrats have gotten themselves into with their shutdown, affectionately known as the Schumer Shutdown, Democrats have cycled through many excuses for shutting everything down. It took them several weeks. But they have finally settled on ACA subsidies.
One Democrat, fully admitting that Democrats shut down the government while simultaneously arguing that they did not, put it this way: “Democrats voted against opening because Republicans won’t ensure a renewal of ACA subsidies to prevent insurance premiums to double, triple, or even quadruple. If the democrats cave, then the cost of healthcare will skyrocket for Americans.” Yep, I think we all can agree that Democrats shut down the government, admit that they shut down the government, and now claim that they did it for ACA subsidies.
So, for the sake of argument, let’s leave aside the $1.5 Trillion in far-left project funding that Democrats have demanded as ransom to open the government -- yeah, I know, another admission -- the fact that the ACA subsidies actually account for a small portion of that $1.5 Trillion, and the fact that the $1.5 Trillion includes $200 Billion in free healthcare for illegal aliens. Yes, those facts are all important points and should be looked at to more fully talk about the shutdown. But since Democrats have settled on the ACA subsidies, I think that, at least for the moment, we can focus on the ACA, the subsidies, and the current point that Democrats are trying to make.
So, let's look at the ACA and the subsidies that we keep hearing about, shall we?
The most obvious place start is the beginning: who created the ACA, the subsidies to support the ACA because it wasn’t actually affordable, and the sunset provision that set the expiration of the subsidies? I'm sure that we can all agree that this would be a fair way to analyze the problem, right?
It's a pretty simple story, really. Here are the facts:
ACA: Democrats
ACA Subsidies: Democrats
ACA Sunset Provision: Democrats
With these facts in mind, as unassailable as they are, Democrats are now demanding, as their ransom to end the shutdown, that Republicans bail them out for their poor, shortsighted decisions that they made when passing legislation that Republicans opposed.
This in an interesting conundrum for Democrats because in order to demand new subsidies, they must admit, either overtly or tacitly, what Republicans have always known: that the ACA was never actually affordable, that it needed to be assisted by additional money -- yes the subsidies -- paid by taxpayers who have already paid for their increased health-insurance premiums under the ACA, and that Democrats erred, or out-clevered themselves when they set the subsidy-expiration date. Sure, you could argue that they set the date in order to force Republicans into a position where they would have to agree to a single-payer system. But, considering where we are, that seemingly clever move -- to Democrats anyway -- has backfired dramatically.
So, here we are. Democrats caused a huge problem that destroyed our health-insurance system and their only solution is, as Democrats do, spending more taxpayer money to shore up the ACA instead of looking at all of its flaws and coming to the conclusion that it either needs to be scrapped or significantly overhauled. This lack of foresight, ingenuity, and imagination calls into serious question Democrats' ability to reasonably and responsibly pass legislation that affects an entire nation.
Why would Americans possibly give Democrats another shot at ruining our health-insurance system? Wouldn’t it make more sense to open the government, hold discussions, and let the responsible party give it a go? Sure, some folks may take issue with me calling Republicans “responsible.” And perhaps they’d have a decent point. But one thing we know for sure, Democrats cannot ever again be allowed to meddle with legislation in areas as important and life-changing as health insurance.