The Government Shutdown Is About How Your Money Will Be Spent

What is this government shutdown about? Dan Rather and his team explain it:

The reports I’m seeing make all this government shutdown business seem so complicated. But it’s not, in its simplest and most direct terms. This fight boils down to one thing: your money.

Republicans want to use your money for tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and more border control agents — among other things. Democrats, seizing a rare political opportunity, are trying to claw some money back for millions of people who depend on health care coverage provided by the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare.

This is not some penny ante political fight, but a battle over potentially very big increases in insurance premiums for tens of millions of people. . . .

The ACA provides subsidies to each state to defray the cost of health insurance. These subsidies were expanded and extended by President Joe Biden during the pandemic, but will expire at the end of 2025. Since 2021, the subsidy expansion has helped to cut premiums, causing enrollment to swell from 11 million people to 24 million.

If the subsidies aren’t extended permanently or even temporarily — something Republicans have so far objected to — health insurance premiums will increase by an average of 114%, and four million enrollees will be forced to opt out because they will no longer be able to afford it, according to the non-partisan health policy research group, Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF).

The New York Times calculated that a 55-year-old couple making $85,000 a year would see their premiums triple to $24,535 annually. People living in red states will be disproportionately affected, with those in Texas being the most vulnerable. More than a million Texans will lose coverage, according to KFF.

Democrats would say Trump’s big beautiful bill is anything but, because it will push 7.8 million Americans off of Medicaid, according to the Congressional Budget Office. They might have gone to the ACA marketplace to find affordable insurance, but it will no longer be affordable if the subsidies are gone. . . .

So, while it may feel like déjà vu all over again, this government shutdown is different — far different even from the other three Trump presided over, because the outcome could mean the reversal of a trend that has meant more Americans are insured than ever before. . . .

With the 2026 midterms coming up, Democrats are holding the Republicans’ feet to the political fire, with a reasonable hope of success. It is risky to allow millions to lose health insurance and force millions more to swallow a significant premium increase to keep it, months before one of the most important congressional elections in U.S. history — especially if the Republicans can’t convincingly point fingers at the Democrats. . . .

As with everything in Trump’s orbit, normal rules do not apply. What has worked with previous shutdowns may not move the needle this time. But for the first time since January 20, Democrats have a chance to get something they want, which also happens to be something most Americans also want.