They Betrayed Us: Eight Democrats Who Sided with Republicans Let Middle-Class Healthcare Evaporate
- CUBNSC
- 3 hours ago
- 5 min read
By Javar Juarez (Columbia Urban Broadcast Network – Columbia, S.C.)
On Sunday, November 9, 2025, as the clock ticked toward midnight on Capitol Hill, the U.S. Senate cast a vote that will echo far beyond Washington. What should have been a moment of moral clarity became a night of political capitulation. In a 60–43 vote, eight Democratic senators — joined by Independent Angus King — sided with Republicans to pass a shutdown compromise that reopened the government but stripped away protections for the Affordable Care Act’s expanded premium tax credits.
The deal they supported may have restarted government operations, but it left millions of Americans without a guarantee of affordable healthcare. It was not a compromise — it was a surrender, delivered under the fluorescent lights of the Senate chamber while working and middle-class families slept, unaware that the foundation of their coverage had just been traded away.
These lawmakers didn’t just miss an opportunity to stand firm — they handed it away.
The Eight Who Caved
John Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania)
Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nevada)
Jeanne Shaheen (D-New Hampshire)
Maggie Hassan (D-New Hampshire)
Jacky Rosen (D-New Mexico)
Tim Kaine (D-Virginia)
Dick Durbin (D-Illinois)
Angus King (I-Maine) — caucuses with Democrats
Each of these lawmakers voted for a “continuing resolution” that reopened the government but failed to secure what mattered most: an extension of the ACA subsidies that have kept insurance affordable for more than 20 million Americans.
For years, those subsidies have been a lifeline — bridging the gap for working and middle-class families who don’t qualify for Medicaid but can’t shoulder the full cost of private insurance. Without them, premiums will spike, coverage will shrink, and families already on the financial edge will fall straight through the cracks.
A Pattern of Protecting Power, Not People
None of this was accidental. The eight senators who broke ranks all orbit the same gravitational center of establishment politics. They invoke “fiscal responsibility,” “bipartisan cooperation,” and “governing stability.” But beneath those phrases lies a familiar pattern: protect the donor class, not the people.
Many of them represent purple states where big money speaks louder than moral conviction. They’ve collectively accepted millions in contributions from insurance, pharmaceutical, and hospital PACs — industries that benefit when the ACA is weakened.
In choosing to compromise, these senators didn’t just reopen the government; they reinforced a hierarchy that values Wall Street reassurance over Main Street survival. What they call moderation, millions of Americans will experience as medical debt.
For all their speeches about compassion, this vote revealed their true allegiance — the establishment that funds their campaigns and shields their careers.
Senator Shaheen’s Defense Falls Flat
At about 9:18 p.m., Senator Jeanne Shaheen stepped before the cameras in the Capitol rotunda and defended the compromise. “This was our chance to negotiate,” she said.
But a “chance to negotiate” isn’t victory. It’s a delay tactic dressed as diplomacy. Shaheen and her colleagues didn’t negotiate from a position of strength; they surrendered before the debate even began.
In a moment that demanded courage, they chose comfort. And for that, millions of Americans — including those right here in South Carolina — will pay the price.
The Human Cost
This was never just about political maneuvering or messaging. It’s about survival.
The ACA premium tax credits make the difference between coverage and catastrophe for millions of Americans — people who work full-time, raise families, pay taxes, and still can’t afford health insurance without assistance.
When those credits disappear, the fallout is brutal and immediate:
Teachers, retail workers, and small business owners will watch their monthly premiums skyrocket.
Middle-class parents will be forced to choose between healthcare and a mortgage payment.
Early retirees will face the devastating prospect of losing coverage altogether.
This isn’t a theoretical loss. It’s a slow-motion economic collapse that will push working families deeper into debt and despair.
Why South Carolinians Should Care
In South Carolina, where medical debt already traps thousands and rural hospitals teeter on closure, this betrayal deepens inequality — not just racially, but economically.
Living in South Carolina is already dangerous for people in rural communities. Our healthcare system has been bleeding out for years. From Marlboro County to Bamberg, from Clarendon to Barnwell, hospitals are closing or cutting critical services because the state refuses to expand Medicaid. That political stubbornness has left entire regions without emergency rooms, maternity wards, or even basic trauma care.
When you live in a small town here, a medical emergency too often becomes a death sentence — not because help isn’t available, but because it’s miles away. Expectant mothers drive over an hour to deliver babies. Cancer patients skip chemotherapy because they can’t afford the gas or the unpaid time off work. Families who work every day still drown in bills from hospitals that are barely hanging on.
Women’s health is hanging by a thread. South Carolina’s shrinking field of obstetrics and gynecology is a casualty of this broken system. When rural hospitals close, OBGYN departments go with them. That means fewer prenatal visits, higher maternal mortality rates, and greater risk for both mothers and infants — outcomes that already disproportionately harm Black women across the South.
Now, add to that the loss of ACA premium subsidies — the only safety net left for working- and middle-class families. You’re not just talking about inconvenience anymore; you’re talking about an implosion of access in a state that’s already refusing to protect its people.
When Washington Democrats abandoned this fight, they didn’t just make a procedural error — they made life harder and more dangerous for South Carolinians. Every family that depends on those tax credits will feel the hit. For some, it will mean higher premiums. For others, the loss of insurance entirely. For too many, it could mean life or death.
Whether you’re a nurse in Columbia trying to cover your children, a truck driver in Orangeburg who needs insulin, or a young entrepreneur in Greenville juggling startup costs and medical bills — this decision sends a chilling message: you are expendable when power is at stake.
Democrats claim to champion working families. Yet when faced with Trump’s manufactured shutdown crisis, eight of them sided with chaos and called it compromise. They didn’t fight for us — they negotiated away the one thing that keeps many South Carolinians alive.
The Verdict
This wasn’t political misjudgment — it was moral failure. These eight senators helped reopen a government that can no longer guarantee basic care for its people. They turned a fight for fairness into a hollow gesture.
Governor Gavin Newsom called the deal “pathetic.” Governor J.B. Pritzker called it “an empty promise.” Both were right. The so-called compromise delivered no real gains — only breathing room for politicians and panic for the people.
America’s working and middle classes — Black, white, and brown alike — are exhausted by leaders who speak of compassion but legislate in fear. South Carolinians understand what it means to fight for dignity with limited means, and that’s why this betrayal cuts so deep.
It’s time to remember the names of those who failed us. It’s time to replace career politicians with leaders who understand that healthcare isn’t a bargaining chip — it’s a human right.
Because this wasn't a compromise. It was capitulation.