Guy Ciarrocchi: Why did Democrats actually fight?

The Final Jeopardy answer is: “Power. Leverage. And Election 2025.”

The correct answer Q: “What was the federal budget stalemate and 43-day shutdown actually all about?”

In Washington, DC, this budget fighting chapter is just about over. What did we learn?

Three things. 

First: The “Affordable Care Act” (“Obamacare”) is not affordable — not for those paying the rising premiums nor for the taxpayers subsidizing the skyrocketing costs. 

Rates have gone higher and higher, and taxpayers keep subsidizing the true costs with more and more money for more and more people. That’s why Democrats are demanding that taxpayers keep subsidizing it beyond the very deadline that they themselves had put in place — artificially trying to keep premiums somewhat affordable for those using the Obamacare “marketplace.” 

Plus, during the Covid era, when many Americans were ordered not to work, Obamacare/ACA “emergency” coverage was extended to more and more Americans — and the amount of subsidy that taxpayers were paying (to keep the premium cost artificially low) increased, again and again. Democrats demand that taxpayers keep subsidizing Obamacare at Covid emergency levels — subsidizing even people earning four times the poverty rate, even for couples making over six figures! It’s November 2025, the “Covid emergency” ended over four years ago!

Now, Democrats shriek that without continuing the Covid-era emergency taxpayer subsidies, health insurance premiums will cost “too much.” In other words, if middle-class Americans buying subsidized health insurance through the “Affordable Care Act” marketplace suddenly would have to pay the actual cost of their premiums. Without the Covid taxpayers subsidies discounting them, their insurance premiums would stop being “affordable.”

Obamacare is a colossal failure. Just like many of us knew would happen. Many Americans could not keep their doctor, as we were promised. And health insurance premiums continue to rise faster than inflation — sometimes two or three times the rate of even “Biden-flation!” 

Second: We learned that congressional Democrats support policies that are so wildly unpopular that the only way for them to try to get their policies put into law is to hold the entire federal government hostage. 

They wanted to: continue the Biden/Harris policy of giving “free” (taxpayer funded) healthcare for illegal immigrants; repeal the personal tax cuts that would’ve expired earlier this year; and, defund the Border Patrol increases that have reduced illegal border crossings by an estimated 96 percent. 

Why do they fight for these radical, unpopular things? It’s what they believe. Most if not all of them agree with those policies — just like they believe in men being allowed to play in women’s sports, no cash bail, and mandating DEI programs. 

The rest are too afraid to object for fear of being primaried by a progressive Democrat challenger. Most incumbent Democrats fear that more than any Republican opponent.

It’s why the de facto Democrat Senate Leader is AOC — the Congresswoman from the Bronx — not Senator Chuck Schumer. He lives in fear that she will challenge him in a New York primary or use her out-sized influence within the party to have him removed as Senate Minority Leader. That calculus runs through his mind with every piece of legislation, with every one of his public comments.

Third: The Democrats and most legacy media used the shutdown to blame the GOP (who “control everything”), to criticize the GOP for causing “chaos” (the latest buzzword from Democratic focus groups,) and to win decisively in Virginia, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. 

Mission accomplished! Democrats no longer need the shutdown narrative and their props — voters in need of government services, and federal employees.

It’s why on Sunday a “deal” was struck. Eight Democrats agreed to vote with the GOP senators to re-open government. What was the deal? To pass the very spending bill that the GOP has been offering for months — keeping the government operational without exponentially higher spending (as had been happening from 2021-2024). Plus, GOP Senate leaders agreed to the Democrats’ request: to allow a vote in the near future on “Affordable Care Act” subsidies being extended.

It’s why the budget battle seemed to be about spending, but it was really about the Democrats trying to use their limited leverage — the GOP needing seven Democrats to join with them to end the filibuster on the spending bill — to repeal policies they oppose but could not defeat and enact radical unpopular policies that didn’t have the votes to pass. 

The stand-off was about Democrats trying to force the GOP to vote to continue to use taxpayer money to artificially hide the real cost of the failed Obamacare — the bill that they passed over a decade ago without GOP input or votes.

The stand-off was about posturing and creating a narrative to attack Republicans, to help Democrats win Election 2025 — including the Governors’ races in Virginia and New Jersey. 

At its core, the standoff was really about very different values; and, a cynical strategy to use taxpayers as political pawns, to achieve partisan political power.

Guy Ciarrocchi is a Senior Fellow with the Commonwealth Foundation. He writes for Broad + Liberty and RealClear Pennsylvania. Follow Guy at @PaSuburbsGuy.