{"id":2506894,"date":"2025-11-05T07:33:02","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T12:33:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/dems-want-republicans-to-bail-them-out-of-political-gamble\/"},"modified":"2025-11-05T07:35:35","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T12:35:35","slug":"dems-want-republicans-to-bail-them-out-of-political-gamble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/dems-want-republicans-to-bail-them-out-of-political-gamble\/","title":{"rendered":"Dems Want Republicans To Bail Them Out Of Political Gamble"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdems-want-republicans-to-bail-them-out-of-political-gamble%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2506894&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Teh government shutdown has entered its one-month mark, driven primarily by Democrats&#8217; demand to extend enhanced Obamacare subsidies set to expire at the end of 2025. These subsidies would provide a $350 billion bailout to insurance companies and politically benefit Democrats, who miscalculated when and how to seek their extension. The roots of the shutdown trace back to July 2022, when Democrats passed the Inflation Reduction Act, including provisions to extend these subsidies using funds raided from Medicare. Initially, Senator Joe Manchin proposed a two-year extension of subsidies, but Democrats eventually pushed for a three-year extension, coinciding with the expiration of key provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA).<\/p>\n<p>This alignment was a political gamble by Democrats, aiming to leverage subsidy extensions against tax relief negotiations. Though, the gamble backfired when Republicans gained control of all three branches of government and passed a permanent extension of the TCJA without the enhanced subsidies, eliminating democrats&#8217; leverage. Consequently, democrats are now resorting to a government shutdown but face criticism for poor strategic planning and electoral failures. The shutdown&#8217;s impact reflects the result of political miscalculations and an inability by Democrats to win elections and shape policy effectively.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>In response to the <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/09\/30\/chuck-schumer-has-no-leverage-in-the-shutdown-showdown\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">government shutdown<\/a> hitting the one-month mark, an unnamed adviser to Donald Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2025\/10\/31\/nobody-thought-it-was-going-to-last-this-long-trump-increasingly-frustrated-as-shutdown-approaches-record-length-00632230\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a> that the president has &ldquo;had it with these people [i.e., congressional Democrats], because he knows they&rsquo;re playing politics.&rdquo; He&rsquo;s right &mdash; but the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wake-up-with-the-washington-examiner-walzs-tough-follow-up-act-and-one-thing-bidens-doj-is-concerned-about-washington-examiner\/\" title=\"Wake up with the Washington Examiner: Walz\u2019s tough follow-up act and one thing Biden\u2019s DOJ is concerned about - Washington Examiner\">administration hasn&#038;rsquo<\/a>;t articulated the half of it.<\/p>\n<p>Democrats have shut down the government due to their demands that Republicans extend <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/03\/02\/how-democrats-covid-bill-gives-welfare-to-the-wealthy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">enhanced Obamacare subsidies<\/a> set to expire on Dec. 31. Such a demand would give a bailout to insurance companies totaling <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbo.gov\/system\/files\/2025-09\/61734-Health.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">$350 billion<\/a> plus interest. But it would also give a political bailout to Democrats themselves, who ended up in this situation only because they thoroughly mis-calculated when and how to seek a subsidy extension.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Flash Back to Summer 2022<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>This <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >government shutdown effectively originated<\/a> in July 2022, when Democrats passed their Inflation (Reduction) Act. After interminable negotiations behind closed doors with then-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., threw out most of Democrats&rsquo; <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/12\/13\/republicans-should-force-democrats-to-vote-on-the-full-5-trillion-build-back-bankrupt\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">$5 trillion Build Back Bankrupt<\/a> wish list. He suggested legislation that would 1) empower the federal government to &ldquo;negotiate&rdquo; drug prices in Medicare and 2) use some of the money from those price controls to extend the enhanced Obamacare subsidies, originally enacted by Democrats in March 2021 for a two-year period.<\/p>\n<p>Put aside for the moment that this plan, and Democrats&rsquo; eventual legislation, <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/07\/19\/democrats-plan-to-snatch-medicare-dollars-from-seniors-to-subsidize-their-rich-friends\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">raided Medicare to fund an expansion of Obamacare<\/a> &mdash; just like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/democrats-use-medicare-as-a-piggy-bank-11616624520\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Obamacare itself<\/a>. Reports <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2022\/07\/14\/manchin-rejects-climate-tax-elements-of-party-line-dem-bill-00046018\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">from the summer of 2022<\/a> noted that &ldquo;the health care deal Manchin offered would reduce premiums for two years.&rdquo; In other words, Manchin&rsquo;s original proposal would have extended the enhanced subsidies, then set to expire at the end of 2022, for calendar years 2023 and 2024.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>A Political Gamble That Backfired<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Instead, the bill Democrats ended up passing extended the enhanced subsidies for three years, such that they expire at the end of this year, rather than doing so last December. Democrats&rsquo; reasons for so doing seem as obvious now as they did then &mdash; but events couldn&rsquo;t have played out any worse for them.<\/p>\n<p>I noted <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/08\/09\/how-gop-lawmakers-should-handle-2025s-fiscal-cliff-no-matter-whos-in-the-white-house\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">last summer<\/a> that the enhanced Obamacare subsidies were set to expire at the same time as major portions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). Doubtless Democrats recognized this fact in 2022, and persuaded Manchin to go along with a three-year extension of the enhanced subsidies, such that the subsidies and TCJA would expire on the same timeline.<\/p>\n<p>If Democrats had controlled any of the three elected branches of government this year, this gamble would have given them a sizable leverage point in discussion of a TCJA extension. They could have, and almost certainly would have, demanded a permanent extension of the enhanced subsidies in exchange for extending tax relief for the middle class. Indeed, with unified control of the elected branches, Democrats could have permanently extended the enhanced subsidies and let some or all tax relief for &ldquo;the rich&rdquo; expire.<\/p>\n<p>One minor detail in all of this policy calculation: Democrats needed to win elections. They didn&rsquo;t. Republicans control the three elected branches of government, and passed a permanent TCJA extension &mdash; without any Democratic votes, and without the enhanced subsidies attached &mdash;  as part of this summer&rsquo;s &ldquo;big, beautiful bill.&rdquo; The left&rsquo;s leverage point went up in smoke, leaving the party scrambling for options.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Gross Miscalculation?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Ironically enough, when Manchin floated his initial deal in July 2022, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2022\/07\/15\/biden-manchin-senate-00046144\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">press noted<\/a> that his proposal &ldquo;would force the [Democratic] party to confront the prospect of rising premiums again in two years &mdash; just ahead of a presidential election.&rdquo; In retrospect, Kamala Harris probably wishes she would have had the prospect of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/democrats-are-to-blame-for-rising-health-care-and-energy-prices\/\" title=\"... Are To Blame For Rising ... And Energy Prices\">rising health care premiums<\/a> as a tangible cudgel to use against Trump during her campaign last fall &mdash; &ldquo;If you don&rsquo;t vote for me, your costs will go through the roof.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>As a conservative who doesn&rsquo;t want the enhanced subsidies extended, I&rsquo;m glad that Democrats punted the issue beyond the presidential election. Having seen Republicans scared of their shadow on <em>anything<\/em> to do with health care far too many times, I could readily envision an alternative 2024 universe that became the worst of both worlds &mdash; a series of damaging headlines about rising premiums over the spring and summer to activate leftists, followed by a political cave where Republicans took ownership of Obamacare right before the presidential election, demoralizing the conservative base and depressing Republican turnout.<\/p>\n<p>By punting the issue into 2025, Democrats hoped they would have a better chance of getting a permanent extension of the enhanced subsidies, rather than another one or two-year extension. They neglected to remember the fact that, for this strategy to succeed, they had to win an election first. (Oops.)<\/p>\n<p>Schumer miscalculating politically is nothing new. This spring, he assumed Republicans could not pass a spending bill through the House of Representatives without relying upon Democratic votes &mdash; when they did, he felt obligated to retreat for lack of a better strategy. Now, however, his poor decisions three years ago have officially come a-cropper, and the American people have been made to suffer the ill effects of a government shutdown manufactured by Democrats because they 1) can&rsquo;t think strategically and 2) can&rsquo;t win elections.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<div>\n<p>      Chris Jacobs is founder and CEO of Juniper Research Group and author of the book &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/1645720020\">The Case Against Single Payer<\/a>.&#8221; He is on Twitter: <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/chrisjacobsHC\">@chrisjacobsHC<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trump adviser says president is fed up with Democrats&#8217; politics<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":521,"featured_media":2506895,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Screen-Shot-2025-11-03-at-9.41.33-PM-1024x573.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[5118,3685,66516,32504,3756],"class_list":["post-2506894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-bipartisanship","tag-democrats","tag-political-gamble","tag-political-strategy","tag-republicans"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Screen-Shot-2025-11-03-at-9.41.33-PM-1024x573.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2506894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/521"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2506894"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2506894\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2506898,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2506894\/revisions\/2506898"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2506895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2506894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2506894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2506894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}