Contributor: The main cause of the Republican government shutdown

A deeply entrenched partisan divide has shut down the United States federal government, for what is now the longest period in our history. The Republican leadership has repeatedly claimed that it was easy for Congress—in their view, Democrats—to avoid it, and easier to end it.

John Theon, Senate Majority Leader, said On the Senate floor: “Republicans remain united around a clean, unbiased funding extension … simple and clean“

But it turns out that this contract is actually very dirty. And it’s getting worse because it’s about to close. Saturday marked a new phase in indifference for a large segment of voters when the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — SNAP, or food stamp — benefits were eliminated. Millions the people

It came on top of one estimated 700,000 federal employees were laid off, the loss of key federal services including the collection of economic data, and billions of dollars in losses to state and local governments.

It breaks my heart to hear it stories People who have lost their main source of payment for food. This is a forgivable task for people who already cannot get enough food on average $187 per person per monthand rely on food banks to meet their minimum nutritional needs. many Can’t get enough food for their children. These include 16 million children 42 million People who receive food assistance under SNAP.

Of course the US executive branch was not It should be cut People away, and likely did it Illegally.

This problem was preventable. It is important to know the cause of the shutdown itself, because this is the real story of what we are witnessing. Going forward, the political impact of the arrest — as well as the tangible consequences — may depend on who gets blamed for it.

Congressional Democrats have been told they can accept a “clean continuation resolution” and settle the question of what happens next to tens of millions of Americans’ health care.

But it doesn’t work like that. Soon, d 22 million Americans Those who buy health insurance through the Affordable Care Act’s marketplaces will lose federal subsidies at the end of the year unless Congress acts. Allow it to pass estimated Double the annual premium they pay, from $888 to $1,904.

Republicans passed a big, beautiful bill in their Orwellian name in July without continuing those subsidies. They have failed in this position. The end of federal subsidies at the end of this year is expected to lead to about 4.2. one million People will lose their insurance in the marketplaces, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Many more will lose their insurance from Medicaid cuts in the July law: Estimates 10 million Until 2034. This decline in Americans’ health care coverage has been given for approx 1 trillion dollars More than $4 trillion in tax cuts over the next decade. These tax cuts go primarily to high-income people, not people who need health insurance or food assistance in the Affordable Care Act marketplace. Sixty percent goes Taxpayers with annual income over $217,000, and a third goes to taxpayers over $460,000, at 5% of the income distribution.

The bottom line is that Democrats really had no choice but to reject the “clean” continuing resolution, because voting for it would immediately throw 22 million people under the bus with insurance subsidies. And voters know it: In a poll released Wednesday, 83% of Democrats and 61% of independents said Democrats should not accept the Republican proposal but should continue to push to prevent rate hikes.

The truth is that this war is the same war that both sides have been fighting for the past fifteen years. It is a struggle about access to health care and health insurance, which 48 million Americans did not have in 2010, before the Affordable Care Act.

It’s a big success, though 44 million People are now enrolling through the Marketplaces and Medicaid expansion. Enrollment in the marketplace has increased by nearly 10 million people over the past four years, as federal subsidies allow people who don’t have access to private insurance to get health coverage.

And Republicans have consistently fought against it since its inception, trying to repeal it entirely, with Trump, for years. committed Continue to fight for his second term. Now they are trying to destroy it piece by piece. Hence their current “clean resolution” that would double the average insurance premium for 22 million people. And removing 10 million people from Medicaid over the next decade, brought to us by the July spending bill.

It is also a matter of life and death: it is estimated Tens of thousands of people are expected to die annually as a result of this widespread phenomenon loss Health insurance that is baked into the bill. To prevent these deaths, we will need more major changes to these categories in the future.

Now we have another brutal, high-stakes fight from the shutdown, the fight over SNAP benefits, which Republicans have been cutting for years — including this summer On Thursday, a federal judge ordered The Trump administration will fully fund SNAP benefits for this month as of Friday. Although it is clear that the agency can do so, it refuses, asking a federal appeals court to block the order. Meanwhile, millions of people who rely on this food aid are not getting it, some of them going into floods Food banks.

This is incredible.

Mark Weisbrot is a co-editor Center for Economic and Policy Research In Washington. He is the author”Failed: What the ‘experts’ got wrong about the global economy“