Key Senate Dem Says Party Caved on Shutdown to Make a Symbolic Point About the GOP

Outraged voters and politicians alike are demanding to know why a group of Senate Democrats sided with Republicans to reopen the government without securing any concessions on preserving health care coverage — just days after the party swept last week’s elections with a burst of energy fueled, in part, by its willingness to fight back. 

Democrats had spent weeks arguing that the longest shutdown in history was necessary to make sure health care subsidies administered under the Affordable Care Act were preserved in the next spending package. They won’t be: Instead, Senate Republicans agreed to hold a separate vote on ACA subsidies by the end of the year. With Republicans in the majority, Democrats are almost guaranteed to lose. 

Speaking to The Intercept, a key Democratic leader who voted to end the shutdown argued the party did get something out of the fight: the illustration of a point. 

“It proved the point that Republicans are not sensitive to health care insurance premiums and we are sensitive to health care insurance premiums,” said Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., “and the national polls show that we’ve made a national issue out of [it].” 

Durbin, who is retiring at the end of his current term, is the only member of Democratic leadership to vote for the deal to end the government shutdown. He told The Intercept that Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., was “disappointed” by his decision but understood. 

Without Republican votes to extend the enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies, millions of Americans are expected to see their health care premiums double next year. And despite agreeing to allow a vote in the Senate, Republicans seem unlikely to pass a bill to keep those subsidies in place. 

“No,” Republicans will not vote to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told The Intercept. “Why would I continue to give tens of billions of dollars to insurance companies?” said Graham. “That’s insane.”

In the House, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., would not even commit to holding a vote on the Affordable Care Act subsidies. “I’m not promising anybody anything,” Johnson told reporters last week. “We’re not taking four corners, four leaders in a back room and making a deal and hoisting it upon the American people.”

Rep. Summer Lee, D-Pa., called the outcome a “betrayal” of working-class families. 

“The American people have endured the pain of the longest government shutdown in history only to see a small group of Senate Democrats concoct a so-called ‘deal’ that guarantees nothing on health care and is a betrayal to the working families whose insurance costs are going to skyrocket,” Rep. Lee told The Intercept. “I am strongly opposed to capitulating to false promises that will hurt people in the long run.”

None of the eight senators who broke to support the deal are up for reelection, suggesting that Democrats understand how unpopular the decision is with their base. Beyond Durbin, the seven other senators who voted to end the shutdown are Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev.; John Fetterman, D-Pa.; Maggie Hassan, D-N.H.; Tim Kaine, D-Va.; Angus King, I-Maine; Jacky Rosen, D-Nev.; and Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H. 

It’s a stark contrast to last week’s election, when Democrats swept races in Virginia, New Jersey, New York City, and California. Many credited Democrats’ success with their sudden willingness to fight back against Republicans in defense of health care. 

Backlash has been so severe that some Democratic members of Congress are calling on Schumer to resign from his leadership position. So are some of the party’s 2026 hopefuls — including Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner.

“Sen. Schumer has failed to meet this moment and is out of touch with the American people. The Democratic Party needs leaders who fight and deliver for working people,” wrote Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., in a post on X. “Schumer should step down.”

Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Ill., also called for Schumer to step down. 

“I’ve said it before, and I will say it again. We need courageous leaders who put working families at the center of all they do. 8 democrats caving to empty promises is an indefensible leadership failure,” wrote Ramirez on X. “For the sake of our country, Schumer needs to resign.”

Schumer’s office did not immediately respond to The Intercept’s request for comment.

So far, legislation to reopen the government has been stalled in the Senate due to objections from Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., over a hemp-related provision in the bill. But Johnson has ordered representatives to return to Washington to vote on reopening the government as soon as the Senate passes its version. 

Even though Graham said Republicans won’t extend the enhanced subsidies, the South Carolina senator agreed that Democrats did get something to show for the shutdown fight. 

“We get the government reopened,” Graham said. “They get a vote on health care. Everybody gets something.”