Hours before the first major elections since Donald Trump’s win last November, Sen. Bernie Sanders offered a stern warning for Democrats about the party’s closed-door talks to end the shutdown.
Inside a tense, three-hour meeting at the Capitol on Tuesday, a fiery Sanders urged Democrats not to yield to Republicans without a real victory on health care. The Vermont independent was armed with fresh polling from a Democratic-aligned firm that showed voters would punish the party for giving up with nothing in return, according to a person familiar with his remarks.
By Wednesday morning, Sanders and his colleagues in Congress pointed to Democrats’ blow-out victories — including in Virginia, a state with thousands of furloughed federal workers — as the most powerful evidence yet they needed to keep fighting.
I need to call my Senators tomorrow. I have one from each party. I tell the ® how much the shutdown is hurting me and my entire extended family and tell them I want them to end the shutdown even if it means giving the Democrats everything they want. Then I call the (D) and tell them that I know they’re under pressure to end the shutdown but me and my entire extended family have talked it over and we really really need them to stand firm about Medicaid money and access, ACA premiums, food stamps access, etc.
It’s a fun game I’ve been playing every week, and I encourage y’all to join in!