The battle of closure eventually gave the influence of the Democrats. They must use it Robert Rish

The United States government is officially closed.

Starting on Wednesday at 12.01 am Washington time, the federal government has run out of money.

The agencies and departments designed to protect consumers, workers and investors have become officially closed, as well as parks and national museums.

Most federal workers-up to 750,000 can not be leave-can be authorized-including those who have to stay in the job, such as air traffic control units or US military personnel.

The so -called “mandatory” spending, including social security and medical care payments, continues, although checks can be delayed. Building the new White House for Trump You will not be affected.

Closing are government symptoms off bars.

I participated directly in two, one when I was the Minister of Labor. It is difficult for me to describe fear, frustration and chaos that followed. I remember spending the first day in employee staff – many crying as they are heading outside the door.

There have been eight closures since 1990. Trump is now Four.

But this closure is different.

For one reason, it is as a result of a decision, which the Republicans made in July, is to pass a major Trump “draft law” (which preferred to be described by the “Great Oncelter” bill) without any democratic voices.

They can do this due to the Chamber of Senate called “reconciliation”, which allowed the ugly adults to pass by only 51 votes instead of the normal 60 required to overcome filbuster.

The final number was a larger. All Democrats in the Senate opposed legislation. When three Senate Republicans joined them, JD Vance was called to break the draw. Some Republicans boasted that they do not need a single democracy.

Non -ugly is essentially the priorities of the United States government. He – she Reducing about 1tn From healthcare programs, including Medicaid and the law of affordable prices, which means that health insurance premiums for tens of millions of Americans will rise in January.

The large ugly also reduced the help of nutrition and environmental protection, while the implementation of migration enforcement and the reduction of wealthy Americans and major companies.

Republicans do not need Trump and the Senate to one democracy then. But this time, Republicans were unable to use a mysterious settlement process to pass a bill to keep the government ongoing.

Now they needed democratic voices in the Senate.

However, keeping the government continues means maintaining all the priorities included in the great ugly draft law that all Democrats opposed to the Senate.

This is why Democrats in the Senate refused to sign what most of the large ugly discounts were not restored to Medicaid and the law of care at reasonable prices, so health insurance premiums will not rise next year.

Even if the Democrats in the Senate obtained this privilege, the Republican Law to keep the government continues will retain all the tax cuts of the wealthy and the companies contained in the great ugly, as well as all the discounts in nutritional assistance, and all the increasing funding for the enforcement of immigration.

There is a deeper paradox here.

As a practical issue, the United States government has been closed for more than eight months, since Trump took office this time.

Trump and the surrounding SYCOPHANTS, such as Russell Vogue, director of the management and budget office, and before him, Elon Musk, had nothing about closing parts of the government they did not like – such as the American Agency for International Development.

They also have Go to the fireLeave or extension of acquisitions to Hundreds of thousands of federal employees They do a job they cannot, like those who work in Consumer Financial Protection Office and Public broadcasting company.

They have Divided credits From the Congress of the activities they oppose, starting with the entire federal government.

On the first day of the closure, Vought announced that the administration He freezed $ 18 billion The Congress has been devoted to infrastructure financing in New York City (the home of the leader of the Senate minority Chuck Schumer and the minority leader in the House of Representatives, Hakim Jeffrez).

All this is illegal, but it seems unlikely that the courts will behave soon enough to prevent administration from hurting huge numbers of Americans.

I threatened permanently Launch more federal employees If Democrats do not vote to continue the government’s financing. But nothing was stopped about doing this before the closure, and the closure is not a greater opportunity for him to do so.

In fact, Trump’s passion and lapdogs over the past eight months to ignore the will of Congress and close what they want from the government offer another reason for the lack of Democrats.

Was Democrats to keep the government continuing, what warranty would have had Trump to keep the government in reality?

Democrats finally have some negligence influence. They must use it.

If tens of millions of Americans lose their health insurance starting in January because they can no longer pay the high sky installments, then Trump and the Republicans will be blamed.

Trump and the Republicans ’mistake in any case will be – it is part of their great ugly bill – but in this way, in the battle about the reopening of the government, Americans will have an opportunity to see Democrats standing on them.

• Robert Reish, a former US Labor Minister, is an honorary professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a column writer in the United States and his news messages in Robertreich.substack.com. His new book, which will be presented: my American notes, has come out now