Let's Make An (Or)Deal!

     The Federal government is on track to re-open, possibly as soon as late Wednesday afternoon.  Senate Democrats made a deal with the GOP, in which the Dems get...  Well, let's see...  Oh, here it is, a vague promise of a vote on extending COVID-years ACA subsidies that will almost certainly be DOA in the House.

     What went on behind the scenes is unclear.  The eight Democrats who voted with Republicans were headed for retirement, or won't be on the ballet until 2028, and/or from states where they can't possibly lose an election, and there's a message in that.  In my opinion, neither party has been covering themselves in special glory in this fight -- but we're not paying them to go roll in glory like a dog wallowing in a festering deer carcass anyway; we're paying them to not make too big a mess of things, and...yeah, they're not great at that.  From the outside, they were stuck unless somebody blinked, and with House members mostly out of town and needing to fly back, and the FAA starting the throttle back on air travel, blinking was certainly on the menu.

     Now we're back to the original mess, with the added fillup of screwed-up SNAP payments and overtaxed food pantries, and Thanksgiving is just over two weeks away.  Don't look for anyone affected by that to be adding their Senators and Representative to the prayer before the holiday meal.  Primary season starts in March, only four months away: voters will remember, and primaries keep on cranking through until well into August, by which time Fall election campaigns will already be underway.  Could be kinda ouchy; the only question is if elephants or donkeys get the biggest pinch.