Senate Democrats Cave Again; Will They Ever Learn To Fight Under The New Rules?

Senate Democrats once again caved and passed a stopgap spending bill that would keep the government running until next April. Democrats had talked about forcing a government shutdown over an extension to a miners’ pension plan. Republicans included an extension until April but Democrats had been holding out for an extension at least through the end of next year. Besides a worthless promise from Mitch McConnell that he pledged to work to make sure miners’ benefits would be extended next year, Democrats really got nothing out of this except a minor bit of PR for those Senators in coal country to use in their 2018 elections. President-elect Trump has made no comment on the issue despite his professed love of miners during the campaign. Just before midnight, when the government would run out of money, Democrats let the procedural vote to reach cloture pass 61-38 and the spending bill was subsequently passed 63-36.

Said incoming Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer, “We never intended to shut down the government. I think we’ve made our point.” Actually, I think Schumer missed the point entirely. Nobody is going to read or care about Democrats holding out for miners’ benefits but then not having the courage of their convictions to follow through. In fact, the whole incident is probably a net negative as it once again shows that Democrats aren’t “tough enough” to win important political battles. Republicans used government shutdowns and the refusal to raise the national debt as a way to signal voters the issues that mattered to them. Without crossing the threshold to delay government funding, most of the country would have never paid real attention to what the GOP was doing and the press would have treated it exactly like they treated what Democrats did today, burying the story deep in the paper rather than front page news.

Believe me, I have been absolutely opposed to this kind of legislative shenanigans. But Republicans have been destroying the norms of governance and democracy for the last couple of decades and it is hard to see that they have paid any significant electoral price for their transgressions. They created government shutdowns way back in the 1990’s so the country has 20 years of experience with this kind of event. Holding firm and shutting down the government, even for just a few days, would have sent a number of important signals to the country. First, it would show that Democrats take the plight of those workers in coal country seriously and that Republicans are not necessarily as interested in protecting those workers as they claim to be. Second, it would have put Trump on the spot about how seriously he takes his campaign promises to those miners. Lastly, and most importantly, it would have shown GOP leaders in Congress that the Democrats were able to finally be a unified caucus and will stand as a true opposition party.

Schumer also added this comment after Democrats had caved, “We’re going to win this fight. We can’t predict the exact path, but we are going to win this fight, because we’re right.” If there is anything that the election of Donald Trump has shown, being “right” may make you feel good but it counts for nothing in political battles. Democrats continue to play by the pre-1990 rules while Republicans have been playing for keeps for the last 20 years. Last night, as has happened far too often on the last two decades, Democrats brought a water pistol to a gun fight.