Even the Washington Post Says It’s Time for Democrats to End the Shutdown

By: Marc Tamasco | Fox News

The Washington Post editorial board criticized Senate Democrats on Wednesday for holding the government “hostage” for a month in hopes of extending costly Obamacare subsidies and urged them to reopen the government by voting for a clean funding bill.

“The right answer is to reopen the government with a clean funding bill, ideally for a full year, to get food stamps flowing and federal workers back in the office, and then have a debate about ACA subsidies,” the Post editorial said. “Democrats openly acknowledge that they refuse to do this because it would mean giving up their leverage. If they persist, it could mean families start to go hungry.”

Over the weekend, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) warned in a memo that because of the ongoing shutdown and lack of appropriations, funding for food stamps — officially known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) — would run out by Nov. 1.

Despite having an emergency contingency fund of about $5 billion, the USDA said the money was not “legally available.”

The Post editorial said one reason the government shutdown has dragged on for nearly a month is that “most Americans have felt no discernible impact on their daily life,” but warned, “That’s starting to change.”

“This pain point, combined with three other dynamics, should help hasten an end to the shutdown as early as next week by making Democrats blink,” the editorial board wrote.

In addition to SNAP benefits expiring, another factor the Post editorial said could speed the end of the shutdown is the start of the open enrollment period for purchasing healthcare, which begins Saturday.

“Many people will experience sticker shock when they see how much their premiums are about to go up. Democrats will be able to claim they got their point across about the need to rescue Obamacare by extending subsidies that are set to expire,” the outlet reported.

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