Playbook: “All 100 senators agreed late Thursday night to quickly proceed to a bill funding the government through Feb. 18. The breakthrough came after Schumer gave Republicans a vote (with a simple majority threshold) to defund federal vaccination mandates. He did so only because there were two Republicans absent, meaning that even if Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) sided with Republicans, the amendment would be defeated. (And fail it did, 48-50.)”
“Conservatives will argue they got something out of this drama: a vote on their issue. In reality, it was a face-saving measure. The far-right started out demanding that Congress effectively scuttle the mandates, then reduced their ask to a mere vote they knew would fail, ensuring smooth passage of a continuing resolution a full 30 hours before the shutdown deadline.”
“Another reality: Their shutdown threat was never going to give them what they wanted. Schumer was all too willing to embrace the showdown over vaccines amid the threat of the Omicron Covid-19 variant. Plus, fellow Republicans blasted their demand as irresponsible and pointless.”
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