Congressional Democrats are marching in lockstep into the fourth week of a government shutdown, even as lawmakers brace for what could be the most painful point yet — a cutoff in federal food aid for more than 40 million people.

But Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries are signaling that there will be no change in strategy: Democrats won’t provide the votes to reopen the government unless their demands over health care are met. And they’re increasingly hammering President Donald Trump for his failure to sit down to negotiate with Democrats, while instead embarking on his second foreign trip so far during the shutdown.

“This is all Trump,” a visibly frustrated Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont told CNN. “Trump’s not engaged. Republicans won’t negotiate,” Welch said, arguing that Trump’s trip to Asia this week as “an indication of how he could care less.”

      • NatakuNox@lemmy.world
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        48 minutes ago

        The DNC is so spineless it’s amazing they are at least not caving on the budget. Let’s hope they carry this fight to the end.

    • ProfThadBach@lemmy.world
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      If they would only have that much balls. Hell here in WNC there were hunting parties trying go after FEMA last year. I don’t know if the MAGA rural meth-heads would have enough class to even thanks the people helping them.

    • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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      They’re giving all the money the neoliberals stole from state parties, back to state parties:

      Total DNC investment for 2025 elections surpasses $7 million

      Today, two weeks from Election Day, the DNC announced a new $500k investment into the New Jersey, Virginia, and Pennsylvania Democratic coordinated campaigns to help “get out the vote” ahead of the critical New Jersey and Virginia Gubernatorial elections, along with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court retention elections. This new investment is in addition to the DNC’s $3 million investment in the Virginia Democratic Coordinated Campaign, $3 million investment in the New Jersey Democratic Coordinated Campaign, and the six-figure investment in the Pennsylvania Democratic Coordinated Campaign.

      https://www.insidernj.com/dnc-announces-new-500k-investment-into-new-jersey-virginia-and-pennsylvania-democratic-coordinated-campaigns-to-get-out-the-vote/

      It’s insane to me that people want the DNC to be a point of consolidated power, almost immediately after we won a 30 year to take it back to where it used to be.

      Consolidating all the power in the DNC, just makes it easier for the wealthy to control it all if we get stuck with a neoliberal chair again.

      Like, they’ve fucked shit up so bad for so long, a lot of voters don’t understand that a bottom up power structure is the foundation of a party that represents the average voter. So people really just won’t stop arguing against their own best interest like you are…

        • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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          That you want a strong DNC where all the money/power is consolidated with them and a single chairperson controls the purse…

          I mean, technically you didn’t say anything though, you just quoted someone else post verbatim and don’t seem to have even understood what they’re saying.

          What do you think that meant?

          • celeste@kbin.earth
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            My primary interest is in pressuring large organizations with resources to provide food for people cut off from snap benefits. Using it politically is a means to convince the DNC to put resources towards it, though my assumption is that the central DNC will actually do fuckall and it will be small local organizations that decide it’s worth the effort.

            • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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              Oh ok.

              So you’re not planning ahead.

              Luckily we can see from Minnesota that planning more than a week ahead of time pays off. And that’s the direction the DNC is moving: planning ahead and distributing power in case we lose the DNC to neoliberals again.

              It would be great if you “pressured” organizations that can do something and should do something instead of random organizations that are actually fixing themselves…

              But considering your “pressure” is reposting social media comments to Lemmy, well, it doesn’t really matter if what you’re doing is right or not.

              Feel free to “go after” Taco Bell for discontinuing the McDonald’s dollar menu if you want as well, people probably won’t get as upset even tho it’s just as illogical. But politics is an important topic these days

                • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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                  49 minutes ago

                  Yeah, bro…

                  Obviously we should just do easy things that don’t matter instead of productive things that are difficult.

                  Who cares if it’s effective as long as you get a quick dopamine hit.

                  Feel free to go boycott Target about Exon mobile.

              • QuoVadisHomines@sh.itjust.works
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                Did it ever occur to you that you don’t know anything about the person you are talking down to and that it might be more effective to engage in a minimal level of politeness?

    • ChonkyOwlbear@lemmy.world
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      Pretty sure that would violate laws against “buying” votes, but what the hell are Republicans going to do? Shutting them down would look bad even to their voters.

      • fluxion@lemmy.world
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        2 hours ago

        Do stupid shit like the Republicans do, like “oh we are unaffiliated and just like to set up our booths here because of the foot traffic”. They juke and jive our entire justice system with 5 year old tactics but everyone else is scared to look improper.

      • celeste@kbin.earth
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        Honestly that’s the part of this suggestion I’m not sure about, but regardless of whether that part’s cool, Dems should be setting up food distribution in places that are going to be the worst hit by this.

  • Auli@lemmy.ca
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    I don’t get why like most of the rest of the world this doesn’t cause an election. America needs some modernization to it’s rules so that a king can’t happen again. But it won’t if the dems get in they’ll say some pretty words about healing and won’t change anything.

    • ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net
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      Not passing a budget doesn’t cause elections anywhere. Modern democracies have solutions to keep government running without a new budget (some sort of default minimal budget or just previous budget begin prolonged). What causes elections are non-confidence votes. Those are usually lost when coalitions collapse and ruling party can’t secure 50% of votes anymore.

    • Credibly_Human@lemmy.world
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      I don’t think this take is fully thought out.

      Their system is monumentally slow.

      For important decisions, they need a super majority in the senate and a majority in the house, and the presidency, and then they need to word it extremely carefully to not have it monkeys paw’d by the supreme Court.

      They haven’t had an actionable super majority for over a quarter century.

      The reason they appear not to do much is because without bipartisan support or all the things I just mentioned they can basically only change how money is spent and taxes (only sorta IIRC).

      Basically, your comment hurts everyone by encouraging voter apathy due to pushing ideas that aren’t compatible with the reality of their slow system.

      Is the DNC filled with center right people who love a lot of the bad things in place? Yes.

      Are there still absolutely positive changes they would make given the opportunity? Also yes.

      Is it possible to change the party through primaries and local politics? Also yes.

      Anyhow, my point is, it needs to be considered the system they’re working in before loose accusations are thrown at them.

      Finally, we here in Canada could literally have proportional representation right now, giving everyone’s vote equal weighting and giving us true choice and increased leverage over politicians, but we don’t, despite having a majority liberal government and so what I am saying, is having the supposed left leaning party win (or in their case less right), still doesn’t garunteed results, but it does garunteed you won’t ramp up the very real discrimination and crony corruption like you see when right wing governments win.

      It matters, even if choices are mid is the point.

    • dhork@lemmy.world
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      Federal elections here are on a set schedule, there’s no concept of a “snap” election here. The closest thing is if a Congressional seat goes vacant, they need to schedule a special election just for that seat before it can be filled.

      In theory, we prevent kings here by allocating distinct powers to distinct branches of government. The problem occurs when those branches stop using the oversight powers the Constitution gives them. The American President can rule like a king – if Congress and the Courts let him.

    • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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      But it won’t if the dems get in they’ll say some pretty words about healing and won’t change anything.

      You’re confusing the small neoliberal faction with the whole party…

      Something billionaires put a lot of money into. Them and the media conglomerates they own would rather depress Dem turnout and lose the general, because a neoliberal can’t win the fair primary we’ll have next time.

      I know it’s probably not intentional, but please stop spreading neoliberal propaganda.

      Now is the time to be pushing people to vote in the next Dem primaries, not pretending that it’s hopeless. Depressed turnout is the only way billionaires get someone they want like Newsom or Pritzker, and if they go on to win the general, they’ll appoint a biased neoliberal to chair the DNC again.

      Please pay attention, we can’t afford widespread ignorance in the face of fascism

    • Credibly_Human@lemmy.world
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      Alternatively this type of bothsiderism while one side is literally disappearing marginalized people off the streets and doing who knows what with them, while doing corruption on a scale never seen, only hurts all that you believe in and encourages apathy.