Alan Zendelll, November 12, 2025

The eight Democratic Senators who voted with Republicans to end the government shutdown all had heartfelt reasons for their decisions. But they’re politicians, and one thing we can be sure of is that every career politician has prepared a list of excuses for every decision they might have to defend.

Tim Kayne claimed he did it for the many federal workers in Virginia, to assure that Donald Trump cannot fire them during the shutdown. I’m not clear how that benefits those workers, however. If Kayne’s vote helps end the shutdown, the issue is instantly moot.

As a former federal employee, I lived and worked through several shutdowns, including both Ronald Reagan’s draconian attempt to reduce the federal work force and budget, and the Y2K debacle. We faced the same threats every time, but neither I nor any other federal employee lost their job or a single dollar of salary during any of the shutdowns, and people who were supposed to be on leave during that time had that “unused” leave restored to their accounts, even though they didn’t work during the shutdowns. No Congress is going to anger millions of voters of both parties when a simple vote can avoid it.

New Hampshire’s Jeanne Shaheen’s primary issue was Obamacare premium subsidies, without which millions of families will not be able to pay for health insurance. But in the end she decided to accept a pledge from Majority Leader John Thune that the Senate would vote on those subsidies in December rather than hold out for a better deal.

I believe that after saving our democracy from Trump, Americans’ ability to acquire health insurance is presently our nation’s highest priority. As I and many others have noted, the only reason health care wasn’t included the First Amendment is that there wasn’t any real health care in 1789, an oversight long overdue for correction. We’re the only major industrialized nation that doesn’t assure basic health care for all its citizens. Beyond that, I’d ask Senator Shaheen if she trusts that Thune’s promise has merit. Will Republican Senators be free to vote their consciences, or will they be whipped into line by threats from the White House?

Illinois’ Dick Durbin used fully restoring SNAP payments as his excuse, the weakest argument I’ve heard. The courts are already engaged in that battle, ordering the president to direct OMB Director Russell Vought to release the funds already appropriated by Congress. Trump’s defiance of the court’s orders is appalling, but that battle is between Trump and the Judiciary, not Congress. We all decry political decisions that treat child nutrition as acceptable collateral damage, especially in light of Trump’s assertion that he want’s America to be a Christian nation.

Both Shaheen and Durbin are leaving the Senate next year, which many people suggest is why they had the courage to undermine their party’s stand against MAGA principles. Most Americans think standing up to Trump is where they should have invested that courage.  When you’re involved in an existential fight for the future of the republic, after a power-mad president like Trump has created so many hardships for Americans, collateral damage is a foregone conclusion, and any suggestion that the Democrats are responsible for families going hungry is absurd. These Senators were simply wrong.

Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire was another who justified her vote by the need to restore federal food assistance, while Maine’s Angus King thought accepting Thune’s promise of a health care subsidy vote was a better option than using the shutdown as a negotiating tool. Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen of Nevada were clearly influenced by the air traffic controller madness which might have potentially crippled holiday air transportation during the holidays, consequently trashing Nevada’s tourist economy. And finally, Pennsylvania’s John Fetterman lamented over SNAP payments and federal workers not being paid. Nonsense!

Because the Trump administration has set an example of lack of transparency for the rest of the government, we really don’t know what John Thune promised the Democratic turncoats. It’s no secret that many Republican Senators and nearly 80% of Americans support affordable health care. Will the vote Thune promised be an honest reflection of what every Senator believes, or is the promise as empty as the bigger, better health plan Trump has dangled for ten years, without offering even a rough outline of how it would work?

I believe what drove this compromise was the growing anger and chaos created by flight reductions. That issue hits people where they feel it: disrupted holiday plans, canceled and delayed cargo flights that carry all manner of consumer goods and packages. MAGA can marginalize hungry children and unpaid workers, and they can use deceptive tactics to avoid the transfer of wealth that subsidized health care represents, but make people afraid of flying or prevent timely deliveries of millions of products, and they might have a revolution on their hands.

There is a huge risk that caving to MAGA to end the shutdown may have removed the last major obstacle to implementing Project 2025, and dismantling the safeguards built into our Constitution.