Disappointing and disappointed Dems are currently occupying the same news cycle.
By Nayaba Arinde
On Wednesday night, 12th November, the historic 43-day government shutdown ended when the House agreed to the Republican spending bill with a 222-209 vote.
But while temporary relief is certain, cheers may be slightly muted.
On Tuesday, 11th, November 2025, eight defecting Democrats sided with Republicans to end the six week government shutdown, without getting any real assurances of keeping health care premiums at an affordable level inline with the income levels of the majority of the nation.
“Democrats are wondering if there was a point to all of this if their leaders were going to cave,” Professor Basil A. Smikle Jr. PhD, told Our Time Press. “Given the results on election day, many Democrats wanted the Senate to hold the line and feel let down.”
The Columbia Professor and political strategist added, “It’s welcome news for workers that needed to get paid and airline travelers that were facing disruptions leading up to the holidays.”
President Trump now gets to consider signing the solution into reality.
Congressional Minority Leader, Brooklyn’s Hakeem Jeffries said before the vote, “If it doesn’t happen this week, next week, this month, next month, then it’s the fault of Donald Trump, House and Senate Republicans, who continue to make life more expensive for the American people.”
But, political observers, and everyday people are asking, what about the Affordable Care Act. It was not part of the final deliberations.
There is underground rumblings that the Democrats flipped on themselves, and perhaps had been posturing so that they seemed dedicated to supporting the 42 million people who were in danger of losing their government benefits, just so they could ride that dissatisfaction all the way to the November 4th polls, and sweep the ballot across the nation, including the new Democratic (Democratic Socialists of America) Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani.
“The eight senate Democrats caved,” former Bronx Assemblyman Michael Blake told Our Time Press. “We should never have to decide between meals or Medicare. What we are watching is exactly why people are craving a new generation of real Democrats who will fight for the people.”
With a Republican saying they will address the healthcare issue soon, but not now, many House Dems raged at Senate Minority Leader, Senator Chuck Schumer’s inability to competently lead the collective. There are lowkey talks by high-ranking Democrats calling for Jeffries and Schumer to face primary challenges next year.
Current City Councilmember Chi Osse says he will run for Jeffries’ seat.
Asked about Schumer’s leadership, Jeffries defended him enthusiastically. Declaring that the greater majority of Senate Democrats, led by Schumer “have waged a valiant fight over the last seven weeks, defeating the partisan Republican spending bill 14 or 15 different times, week after week after week.”
Forty-two million people have been trying to figure out how to make a dollar out of 15 cents. Some of the six-week-unpaid federal workers are borrowing from credit unions and other sources, not sure how–or when, they can repay that money lent for everyday living. Trump’s tariffs are depleting food on the kitchen table.
The tariffs are diluting the tanks. Everyday people are buying less food, struggling with health care options, childcare, transport, and paying rent, mortgages, utilities, and with taxes coming out of all income “working to pay the government” to quote Whoopi Goldberg.
“Under this deal, there is no guarantee that we will be able to protect 1.6 million New Yorkers’ healthcare, and that is what this shutdown was all about,” said New York State Attorney General Letitia James. “And it’s unfortunate that we cannot depend on or trust our federal government.
There is a possibility that our SNAP case will be mooted as a result of this deal, but at the end of the day, this administration is seeking to claw back benefits from states and/or from some of these vendors — all while they try to take food off the table from children, seniors, veterans and families. I will do everything in my power as Attorney General to protect New Yorkers’ healthcare while we continue this fight to protect food stamps.”
Government officials note that even with the shutdown over, there will be a residual impact across the board from flights to benefits distribution. There have been 8,000 flight cancellations since Friday, November 7th. The area’s airports, including JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark, are continuing to experience cancellations and delays, with some people spending days at the airports. Lines at TSA were over an hour long in some of the 40 airports, which had dozens of TSA and air traffic control people calling in sick. Some took on side jobs, such as driving for Uber, to pay their personal bills.
Trump claimed that he would give a $10,000 bonus to airport workers who stayed on the job and dock their wages for those who did not.
The crossing Dems said that they based their decision on helping to end the shutdown.
Up to 42 million people in America have been living with the fear for 6 weeks that they could lose their SNAP benefits, many turning to the long lines of the stretched-thin food pantries.
Approximately 20 million people will see their health premiums increase by as much as $300.
Jeffries said that any future health care arrangement with the Republicans needs to be “ironclad and in legislation.”
Fresh off of a so-called blue wave in the national November 4th General Election results–including New York City’s own new Mayoral-elect Zohran Mamdani, naysayers and Monday morning quarterback armchair analysts have said that Democrats fumbled the ball and “caved in” by having the 43-day shutdown without a win, or any of the main gains they claimed they were fighting for.
The whole painful exercise is about Republicans dismantling President Barack Obama’s health care. Extending Obamacare, which tens of millions rely upon, was the Democratic sticking point, so to concede with this off the table has made many irate.
The eight Democrats who crossed over to side with the Republicans, and their vote made the deal possible after the six-week shutdown, but they conceded the key issue of extending ObamaCare.
Jeffries slightly chastised the dithering Dems, saying, “They’re going to have to explain themselves.” This, as Republicans said, they promise to possibly address the issue they adamantly opposed in a few weeks. Perhaps.
Former Assemblyman Blake, who just announced a run for Congress in the Bronx next year, concluded, “If Obamacare is not continued in its current form, people are going to lose their lives, because of not having access to healthcare. We know that if people have to decide between rent, groceries, and going to the doctor, they will prioritize protecting their home and feeding their families before they prioritize protecting themselves.
“The democrats should never have agreed to this cave-in, and they must find a way to have the Affordable Care Act extended in some way.”
As for the Republican claim that they would revisit the affordable health issue, Blake added, “I have never known a doctor to take on a promissory note.”