This week the government reopened after the longest closure in the nation’s history. Panelists on Washington Week With The Atlantic joined to discuss how moderate lawmakers brokered a deal with Senate Republicans—and what it may mean for the Democratic Party going forward.
There is a lot of frustration among Democratic lawmakers following the end of the shutdown, which is now spilling out into public view, Nancy Cordes, the chief White House correspondent at CBS News, said last night. “There are Senate Democrats who feel that the whole point of this risky enterprise in the first place, triggering a shutdown, was because eventually, over time, they felt that they would gain enough leverage over Republicans.”
Although “the pain was mounting; yes, flight delays were mounting; yes, SNAP beneficiaries were starting to lose very crucial food assistance,” Cordes noted, “they felt that they were getting closer to putting Republicans in a very uncomfortable situation.” She added: “We’ll never know if they were right or not, because these eight Senate Democrats said that they weren’t willing to find out.”
Joining the guest moderator and a staff writer at The Atlantic, Vivian Salama, to discuss this and more: Natalie Andrews, a White House correspondent at The Wall Street Journal; Cordes, the chief White House correspondent at CBS News; Andrew Desiderio, a senior congressional reporter for Punchbowl News; Jeff Mason, a White House correspondent at Reuters.
Watch the full episode here.
