I am furious. Chuck Schumer loves to preach about how Democrats are united, ready to fight for us, & how they’ll never back down to Republicans. But when it matters most, he caves. Despite all the big talk, Democrats are now finding Medicaid cuts acceptable. All that talk about protecting working families, standing up for the vulnerable, and being the party that actually gives a shit?
Empty. Fucking. Words.
They have two choices:
Vote for a funding bill that cuts Medicaid—a lifeline for millions of people
Refuse to give Republicans permission to cut Medicaid.
On one hand, a government shutdown could delay some safety net programs. On the other, Democrats could send a strong message to Republicans, making it clear that no one has given them a mandate and that a significant portion of the country does not support their extreme ideas and policies.
Either choice results in hardship for Americans, but the first one guarantees that Medicaid could be permanently gutted, rather than facing a temporary delay with the potential for Republicans to reconsider. Opposing to fund a bill that includes Medicaid cuts would also force the issue into the spotlight, making it central to every news report instead of a mere whisper.
I will gladly opt for a delay over a permanent end any day! Voting for this bill is essentially telling Republicans they have permission to continue cutting social services. This monster that is now the Republican Party was created by spineless Democrats who refuse to push back against bad actors. Democrats need to wake the fuck up and realize that you cannot win by following the rules when your opponent has no rules, no morals, no scruples, no shame, and no common sense.
The Voices We Need
Democrats like Jasmine Crockett, Tim Walz, Al Green, AOC, Bernie Sanders, Jamie Raskin, and Maxwell Frost have been voices of strength, which is why they are popular among Americans. If the rest of the Democratic Party can’t follow their lead, then they need to be replaced in the midterms. Come on, you spineless Dems, step up or step aside.
Silence is interpreted as support, feeding into the delusion that Republicans have a “mandate.” It empowers them to do even more. We deserve better than this. This isn’t leadership. This isn’t courage. This is spinelessness, plain and simple. And we’re supposed to just sit here and take it? No. Absolutely not.
Schumer told reporters: “If we go into a shutdown, and I told my caucus this, there’s no off-ramp. The total off-ramp of a shutdown, how you stop a shutdown, is totally determined by the Republican House and Senate, and that is totally determined because they’ve shown complete blind obeisance [to] Trump, DOGE, etc. They could keep us in a shutdown for months and months and months.”
“I believe it is my job to make the best choice for the country to minimize the harms to the American people,” Schumer said on the floor Thursday in a highly anticipated speech that made clear Democrats would lend the votes needed by the GOP to keep the government open. "Therefore, I will vote to keep the government open, and not shut it down."
Oh yeah, shutting the government down won’t seem to cause anything worse than what Trump is already doing.
A Government Shutdown - DOGE's Job?
Let’s talk about what happens if the government shuts down:
First, all essential services related to national security and public safety—like inpatient and emergency medical care, air traffic control, law enforcement, border security, disaster aid, and power grid maintenance—continue. Second, it isn’t like Trump wasn’t president during the last shutdown, which was actually the longest shutdown in the last four decades during his term. We survived.
So, what happens if it shuts down?
Federal employees can be furloughed, and some services suspended.
Oh, you mean kind of like what Trump and DOGE are already doing?
CNN warns that nearly 900,000 workers would be furloughed without pay, 1.4 million employees would have to report to work, and only 750,000 would be paid.
Again, Musk and Trump are already doing this, and the government is still open. So, I’m unclear on how the shutdown would cause more of a problem…
National Parks and Museums could close.
Gasp, not that! This is definitely more important than millions of people losing their Medicaid benefits…
Food inspection might be stalled.
Didn’t Trump fire most of the FDA anyway?
Immigration hearings might be canceled.
Are you fucking kidding me right now? I’m not even going to justify this one with an actual explanation.
Delays with federal homebuyer lending and small business loans.
Trump has already caused delays in these departments when he fired staff for these programs.
Air traffic controllers may call in sick.
That’s okay; Elon has that covered. Remember when he fired a bunch of federal employees in the department and then had his people come in to take their spots?
The IRS may experience stress since it’s tax filing season, and employees might be furloughed..
More than Doge firing most of the workers?
8,100 employees of the Social Security Administration will be furloughed.
Again, you’ve got to be fucking kidding me… actually, no one will be furloughed because they fired more than that last week.
30,000 employees would be furloughed from the State Department.
Hasn’t Musk fired about that many already?
CNN expresses these concerns because of the last shutdown in 2018, which lasted 35 days—flight delays, canceled immigration hearings, and making it harder for some families to obtain student loans. What Trump is currently doing, while the government is still open, is far worse than any of this. So where is the justification for giving Republicans a green light to do what they want, with no push back? I certainly cannot see how a government shutdown would be worse than what is currently being done… at least if they have a shutdown, we can keep our Medicaid benefits for a little longer than if there isn’t a shutdown.
References
Contributors to Wikimedia projects. (2025, March 14). Government shutdowns in the United States. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_shutdowns_in_the_United_States
Luhby, T. (2025, March 13). What’s at risk if Congress doesn’t fund the government by Friday’s deadline. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/13/politics/deadline-federal-government-shutdown-congress/index.html
Sprunt, B. (2025, March 13). “Deep sense of outrage and betrayal”: House Democrats react to Schumer announcement. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2025/03/13/nx-s1-5327600/house-democrats-outrage-spending
