November 10, 2025 12:43 PM UTC

Hick, Bennet Keep Hands Clean As Democratic Resolve Cracks Again

•  
• by: Colorado Pols

As the Washington Post reports, and if you’re plugged into political news at all you’ve most likely already formed a strong opinion about:

Seven Democrats and an independent senator who caucuses with them split with their party to vote for a deal that would pave the way to ending the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.

The Sunday vote has divided the Democratic Party. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-New York) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) opposed the bipartisan agreement, as did many rank-and-file Democrats.

The compromise would combine three full-year funding measures into one package with a stopgap funding bill that would reopen the government through Jan. 30, but it would not extend, as Democrats have demanded, the Affordable Care Act subsidies set to expire at the end of the year. Instead, Republicans agreed to a vote on the extension in December. Any final deal would require more Senate votes and the support of the House and President Donald Trump.

This is why I’m standing up and voting NO on these spending bills. They do nothing to tackle the health care crisis that working families are facing. pic.twitter.com/zcbSl7sd9x

— Senator John Hickenlooper (@SenatorHick) November 10, 2025

After standing firm as the shutdown of the federal government stretched into the longest in American history, punctuated by an election last week that appeared to powerfully reaffirm Democrats in their standoff demanding the restoration of tax credits that help millions of Americans afford health insurance premiums, last night a faction of Democrats abandoned the goal that drove the party to shut the government, with all the attendant hardships for millions of Americans from federal workers to people who need food assistance to feed their kids–and capitulated to Republicans for reasons that everyone, including Republicans blown away by their good fortune, is struggling to understand today.

As Colorado Newsline reports, our state’s two Democratic Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper were once again pointedly not on board with this abrupt cave-in at what seemed to be a moment of strength for Democrats:

“President Trump and Washington Republicans have chosen once again to make it harder for everyday Americans to buy health care for themselves and their families. As a result, I will vote no on their funding proposal,” Bennet said in a statement, adding that without the subsidies more than 280,000 Coloradans will see health care premiums that double, triple or quadruple.

“Every Senate Democrat believes every American should have health care, but Republicans refused to come to the table and work to tackle the health care crisis,” Hickenlooper said in a social media post.

Back in March, after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer led a similar capitulation to support a Republican temporary spending bill rather than shut down the government, Bennet and Hickenlooper refused to join in what became a politically disastrous cave-in that nearly cost Schumer his leadership position. Their position has been consistent. Although Schumer didn’t personally vote with the eight Senate sellouts yesterday, as leader he is on the receiving end of much of the backlash over last night’s climbdown, and as Politico reports, the usual dissenting suspects in the party are calling for the end of the Chuck Schumer era:

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) called it a mistake. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) called it “a very bad night.” And Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Ca.) and Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) accused Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of being ineffective and called for his removal.

“Senator Schumer is no longer effective and should be replaced,” Khanna said in a post on X following the vote. “If you can’t lead the fight to stop healthcare premiums from skyrocketing for Americans, what will you fight for?”

At this moment, there’s little upside to be had for Democrats, and we’re not going to try to manufacture any. What we will say is that the long-term political consequences of this decision will hinge on whether the future vote promised as part of this deal on the insurance premium subsidies is successful. It’s worth remembering that there is a good deal of bipartisan support for doing so, but also rhetorical hardening of conservatives like Gabe Evans against the subsidies as posturing during the shutdown. Although we can debate the efficacy of the Democratic response to Republican cruelty, the massive premium hikes that are about to sideswipe Americans financially unless something is done are 100% on Republicans now.

Sometimes, as the old saying goes, the bad guys win. All one can hope is that nobody forgets who they are.