'They should use it': Reich says Trump’s shutdown gives Democrats 'leverage'

Many Democrats are nervous about fallout over the shutdown, but former secretary of labor Robert Reich tells the Guardian the shutdown is finally giving the minority party in Congress the leverage they lost earlier this year.

There have been eight shutdowns since 1990 and President Donald Trump has now presided over four, Reich said, but this one is different. This one is all about Trump’s "Big Beautiful Bill," which is still polling badly since Congressional Republicans “squeaked” it through the House and Senate with a handful of votes through the reconciliation process.

“All Senate Democrats opposed the legislation,” said Reich. “When three Senate Republicans joined them, JD Vance was called in to break a tie. Some Republicans bragged that they didn’t need a single Democrat.”

But that bill “fundamentally altered the priorities of the United States government,” said Reich.

“It cut about $1 trillion from healthcare programs, including Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, meaning that health insurance premiums for tens of millions of Americans will soar starting in January,” he said, adding that it also reduced nutrition assistance and environmental protection, while cutting taxes for wealthy Americans and big corporations.

“Trump and Senate Republicans didn’t need a single Democrat then,” said Reich, “But this time, Republicans couldn’t use the arcane reconciliation process to pass a bill to keep the government going. Now they needed Senate Democratic votes.”

If Democrats cave and opt to keep the government going, Reich said it will mean all of Trump’s cuts to Medicaid and healthcare will continue. This is why Senate Democrats refused to sign on unless Republicans agree to remove Trump’s cuts to healthcare and nutrition assistance and his “tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations.”

Reich said Trump and his administration adore cutting essential funding to U.S. safety net programs. In addition to impounding appropriations from Congress for activities Trump opposes, Reich said Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought and Elon Musk “have had no compunction about shutting down parts of the government they don’t like — such as USAID.”

“They’ve also moved to fire, furlough or extend buyouts to hundreds of thousands of federal employees doing work they don’t value, such as those working at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting,” said Reich. “… On the first day of the shutdown, Vought announced that the administration was freezing $18 billion that Congress had appropriated for funding infrastructure in New York City (home to the Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer and the House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries).”

Vought has threatened to permanently fire more federal employees if Democrats don’t continue funding the government that Republicans and Trump unilaterally created, but Reich said nothing stopped Vought from slashing jobs before the shutdown.

“Had Democrats voted to keep the government going, what guarantee would they have had that Trump would in fact keep the government going?” Reich argued. “Democrats finally have some bargaining leverage. They should use it.”

Read the full Guardian report at this link.