MSNBC panelists criticized Democrats on Sunday for appearing to cave to President Donald Trump as they prepared to reopen the government without securing extensions for Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies.
Eight Democratic senators broke ranks with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer by supporting the Republican-led continuing resolution (CR) in a procedural vote. This CR would reopen and fund the government until January 30.
On “The Weekend: Primetime,” panelists expressed frustration that Democrats, despite shutting down the government for the longest period in U.S. history, are not receiving Obamacare subsidy extensions in return.
“For 40 days, you shut the government down and now you’re going to open the government up and what did you get in return? Nothing? Nothing?” MSNBC columnist Dean Obeidallah said. “After the pain you inflicted — people were willing to take the pain. I talked to union workers from TSA who said, ‘I’ll take the pain, it’s going to help me get health insurance subsidies paid.’ So you’re getting nothing in return. I don’t know how, and you just won an election on Tuesday, and you lose numbers.”
The panelists also found it unclear why several Democrats flipped their position after maintaining a firm stance over healthcare demands during the shutdown.
Democratic Virginia Senator Tim Kaine voted in favor of reopening the government just five days after the party’s significant victory in Virginia’s gubernatorial race.
The bipartisan compromise would reverse layoffs affecting 4,000 federal workers and schedule a vote on ACA subsidy extensions in December.
Co-host Antonia Hylton suggested that Trump ultimately emerged victorious, rendering the 40-day shutdown meaningless.
“In a way, it seems like the president is kind of getting what he wanted 40 days ago when all this started,” Hylton said. “He was out there saying that, ‘oh, this is all about Democrats trying to give health care to illegal immigrants.’ He just said that to reporters moments ago, repeating that refrain that Democrats had actually very successfully pushed back against.”
“There’s all this energy in the wake of Tuesday’s election. The president made remarks basically acknowledging he was on his back foot, saying Republicans are being harmed by all of this. And now, here he is, winning again?” she added.
Trump and Republicans have argued that Democrats supported the shutdown because they wanted to provide government-run healthcare to illegal immigrants. Data shows Medicaid spending for illegal immigrants nearly tripled under the Biden administration, coinciding with record-high illegal border crossings surpassing 2 million and 3 million encounters in a single fiscal year.
Additionally, the cost of Medicaid for illegal immigrants’ emergency care rose 142% in fiscal year 2024.
Obeidallah expressed confusion over Democratic senators’ decisions to cave. “I don’t understand how a Democratic senator goes, ‘Wow, we won really big. Let me cave now.’ That makes no sense to me.”
Notably, none of the Democrats who voted to reopen the government—including Illinois Senator Dick Durbin and New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen—are facing reelection in the 2026 midterms.
https://dailycaller.com/2025/11/10/msnbc-panelists-democrats-govt-down-obamacare/