Record US Government Shutdown Ends as Trump Signs Spending Bill

Well, good morning, Tom and Paul. We've discussed on this show how the the incredible shrinking shutdowns, meaning that, you know, every time we go through this, the Congress carves out more area that's protected from the shutdown. So what's key about this agreement?

And I think this is really what sold the senators, the Democratic senators who decided to vote for it was extending appropriations for a full year for SNAP, for example, for legislative appropriations, meaning ledge staffers will get paid and for Veterans Affairs. So they've taken more hot button, really, you know, what we call valence kinds of programs off the table for a shutdown. So next time, maybe it'll just be air traffic controllers.

And and that's a huge deal. But it's you know, it's less than it would be now. So I think that's the that's the sort of hidden gem, if you will, in the shutdown.

Does speak to our listeners and viewers who say, why did we do this? I mean, I mean, I'm baffled by the constructive outcome of this. What was constructive in this exercise?

Well, the Democrats gambled that health care would be of concern. They knew that private insurance market premiums were going to go up. And, you know, the carriers have been very clear about the cost of health care and that these premiums are going to go up.

So they they drew attention to extending a subsidy for people who buy Obamacare insurance and try to get a tax break for the premium or some part of the premium. You know, that's a smaller subset than everybody that's on Obamacare, and that's kind of a bureaucratic issue. But now everybody knows what that issue is.

And they are they basically it's a simple fix. Let's just extend it.