The US government was shut down for weeks – and then Democrats shrugged their shoulders and gave up
Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, has a pair of very sweet imaginary friends. They’re a middle-class couple called Joe and Eileen Bailey and they live on Long Island. At one point the imaginary couple, who feature in Schumer’s 2007 book, Positively American, were called the O’Reillys. According to the Hill, one Schumer aide said the name then was changed because the publisher thought O’Reilly was “too ethnic” for mass consumption. Another aide said that claim was false, and Schumer just wanted a name that “sounded more national”. Naming strategy aside, the key point here is that Schumer has said he runs all his policy decisions by this completely fictional couple. He’s referred to them hundreds of times throughout his political career.
With that in mind, you can probably thank the Baileys for the latest Democratic disaster. The US government has just emerged from the longest shutdown in history. About 700,000 federal employees worked without pay, desperately needed food benefits were disrupted, court cases were delayed, national parks closed and flights got cancelled.
All this pain was supposed to be in service of a very specific gain. Senate Democrats triggered the shutdown because they wanted to take a stand on healthcare. The 24 million people who get their health coverage through Affordable Care Act marketplaces (commonly known as Obamacare) are going to see their premiums more than double after an enhanced tax credit expires at the end of the year. The Democrats want to extend the credits; the Republicans have refused to commit to a vote on the issue.
