The patronage of the reopening of the government is inflamed by something that cannot fix political provision: a deep distrust between the leaders of the parties.
The trust gap has a long history and a wealth of roots. But it now dives back on the thorny problem in which the subsidies for the budget -bags: Affordable Care Act are presented to run at the end of the year.
The Republicans say they are open to the topic that these talks take place later in the year.
“December 31st is when it works,” spokesman Mike Johnson (R-La.) Said spokesman in the Capitol on Friday. “So the congress has three months to negotiate that.”
This schedule is a non-gardener with Democrats who simply does not trust GOP managers to keep their word well, especially when it comes to strengthening a health law that the Republicans have fought against dismantling in 2010.
“Why should we believe that the Republicans are interested in dealing with the law on affordable care based on their word if the Republicans have done everything for 15 years to shorten the law on affordable care?” Asked the house reduction manager Hakeem Jeffries (DN.Y.).
The chairman of the Senate Minister, Chuck Schumer (Dn.Y.), suspended it this week: “We think that if you say later, we never mean.”
The result was a deadlock without obvious way.
Republicans say they will not negotiate before the Democrats facilitate to reopen the government. Democrats say they will not facilitate to reopen the government when the Republicans negotiate. And no side has given one centimeter in the three days since the government was closed.
The distrust between the parties is not exactly novel, especially after the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, when hundreds of Trump fans stormed into the building to negate his choice of 2020. More than 100 law enforcement officers were injured; The congress members were forced to panic the chambers; And the relationships between the parties in tensions, which sometimes reappear more than four years later.
In the current budget debate, however, the roots of distrust are more specific for the respective topics.
On the one hand, the Republicans’ decision to go away from a cross -party expenditure contract last December has the confidence of the Democrats that they can work on expenditure contracts, even if they are approved by GOP leaders. In this case, Johnson had completed the cross -party package to reverse the course and to oppose the billionaire Tech Titan, who said that the proposal had not reduced the expenses deep enough in view of the social media attacks by Elon Musk.
Flip-flopping is still in the minds of the top democrats who have a bad taste in the mouth.
“We will not take Pinky promises, as spokesman Johnson hands over his conference,” said Repet. Pete Aguilar (California), chairman of the House Democratic Caucus. “His word does not mean much for the house democrats at the time after he had withdrawn from a really two -party CR in December.”
Another source of distrust refers to so -called yields. Democrats have beaten the maneuver as a form of “theft”, since the constitution gives the congress the sole powers of appropriation. They wondered why they should compromise with Republicans about cross -party financing laws if Republicans can reverse them with a partisan vote – or no voice at all.
You want a specific language that should initiate Trump’s utilize of results – a demand that the Republicans have refused.
“It is not a gentleman agreement. There is no confidence that you will make a promise,” said Rep. “It must be there [in legislation]. It has to be written. ”
Perhaps the largest source of distrust is the topic that Jeffries has beaten all week: the historical opposition of the Republicans against the Affordable Care Act, which was passed under the former president Obama without GOP support.
Then and now the Republicans warned that the law is a state takeover of the health markets that were better left to non -profit companies and forces for free market. In fact, the abolition of the ACA was the first great effort under Trump’s first term. It only failed when several moderate Republicans – Sensan Susan Collins (Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and the slow John McCain (Ariz.) – voted with Democrats to save the law.
In view of the history, the Democrats are not ready to accept Handshake deals, but require specific laws that expand the processes that have been issued during the Covid 19 pandemy under President.
“We need an iron legislative agreement to tackle the health issues mentioned, including the Affordable Care Act,” said Jeffries.
This feeling is shared by practically all ranking house democrats, which helped Jeffries and his management team to combine their caucus against the GOP expenditure calculation.
“There is nothing in Donald Trump’s story, which long before he was elected president, that any kind of handshake or agreement with him is something you can count on,” said Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-VA.). “That’s why I will not feel comfortable with any kind of verbal assurance from the Republican leadership here [in Congress] Or the president or the white house. “
However, GOP managers are not in the mood to combat health care or another problem as part of the spending battle of this month. They insist that the Democrats accept the brief -term package of the GOP, which extends the financing by November 21, mainly at the current level. Other topics, they say, can be discussed later.
“I have nothing to negotiate,” said Johnson. “The house did his job.”
A few hours later, the spokesman drove this point home by canceling all the house activities planned for the next week.
The topic of Obamacare has created a dilemma for GOP leader. You have spent years to beat the law as a Marxist takeover of health care, and conservatives on the Capitol Hill already demand that the subsidies can expire on January 1st.
But there are also a number of more moderate republicans – many of them who are faced with strenuous re -election competitions in the means of the next year who want to extend the tax credits at least beyond these elections.
The majority leader of the Senate, John Thune (Rs.d), repeatedly said that he is ready to talk about the expansion of the ACA tax credits. But when recognizing the opposition of conservatives who do not want to support what Obamacare has to do, he does not promise that such efforts will be successful.
“We cannot enter into obligations or promises for the covid subsidies, because this is not something we can guarantee that there are voices there,” said Thune. “I said that I am open to discussions with our democratic colleagues about how to deal with this problem.
“But that cannot happen while the government is closed.”
