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Isabel’s morning briefing
Monday, Nov 10, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller * Subscribers know more. ICYMI: Federal shutdown nears end as Durbin joins Senate deal. Bloomberg…
- “This bill is not perfect, but it takes important steps to reduce their shutdown’s hurt,” Durbin said in a written statement. “Now that Democrats secured these wins, it’s time for Leader Thune to keep his promise to schedule a vote on the ACA tax credits in December.” - House passage is not guaranteed. Democratic leaders have spoken out against any deal that doesn’t include extending expiring Obamacare subsidies, which this bill does not do. * Related stories… * Crain’s | Illinois awaits word on $1 billion in Big Beautiful Bill cash for rural hospitals: Illinois joined the rest of the U.S. today in applying for a piece of the $50 billion the federal government will allocate to rural health over the next five years, with a plan that seeks $1 billion. The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services instructed each state to apply for that exact amount, $200 million per year, the Illinois Department of Healthcare & Family Services said in a statement. * Block Club | Feds clarify prayer ban at Broadview: Restrictions only apply on federal property: A federal official on Saturday clarified that a directive that religious leaders and law enforcement interpreted as banning religious gatherings outside of Broadview’s immigration processing facility only applies to federal property. An anonymous representative from the Broadview facility, 1930 Beach St., told a group of faith leaders and activists in a phone call Friday that “There is no more prayer in front of [the] building or inside the building because this is the state and it’s not [of a] religious background.” * ABC Chicago | Chicago business, civic and faith leaders join together to call for end to immigration raids: “We know the president listens to business leaders,” said Rebecca Shi, CEO of the American Business Immigration Coalition. “He’s extremely motivated by what the business community has to say. And so this is just to start, and businesses are making their voices heard.” Shi calls Operation Midway Blitz economically reckless. She says revenues for some businesses have gone down by 50%. * WGEM | Illinois State Fire Marshal’s office announces statewide transition to new National Emergency Reporting System: ByHeart baby formula has been recalled by the Illinois Department of Public Health after two Illinois babies show symptoms of suspected botulism. They said babies and children in ten other states have also shown symptoms. Botulism is an illness caused by a bacterial toxin, which can produce life-threatening symptoms including muscle weakness, fatigue, and gastrointestinal distress. Botulism can be in foods that look and taste normally, which means consumers cannot inspect food on their own for botulism safety. * State Rep. Suzanne Ness endorses Daniel Biss for Congress in Illinois’ 9th District…
* Daily Herald | CEO: Trucking industry will suffer ‘a miserable blow’ with toll hike; spikes also loom for all every 2 years: State lawmakers’ passage of Senate Bill 2111 on Oct. 31 saves Metra, Pace and the CTA from a massive shortfall leading to service cuts and layoffs. But tucked into the bailout is a toll hike that will devastate the trucking industry, raise the cost of goods and reduce safety, executive Mike Moran contends. “When I woke up on Friday (Oct. 31) they handed me a $360,000 cost increase,” said Moran, president of Elk Grove Village-based Moran Transportation Corp. “No notice, no word, no nothing. It’s the largest single cost increase I’ve seen from any vendor in 46 years of business.” * Tribune | Energy bill gives Illinois regulators new power over rates, how electricity is generated: Under the state’s new energy legislation, the Illinois Commerce Commission can not only delay the planned closures of fossil fuel sources, but also raise electricity rates to build both renewable and fossil fuel sources that the legislature hasn’t even considered. These expanded powers are controversial because the ICC hasn’t had them since Illinois deregulated its electrical generation market in 1997. At the last minute, lawmakers inserted a provision that allows them to suspend ICC rate hikes and then negotiate with the agency about modifying them. * WTTW | Federal Agents Say They Were Shot at in Little Village; Chemical Agents Used to Disperse Crowd: No one was injured in the shooting reported by federal agents, according to a spokesperson for the Chicago Police Department. Masked U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents, clad in camouflage uniforms and armed with military-style weapons, fired chemical agents at the crowd that flocked to the scene to protest agents’ attempts to detain at least three people, Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th Ward) told WTTW News. * Fox Chicago | Father says feds sprayed his family, 1-year-old, with a chemical agent in Cicero: Rafael Veraza said he was going to get groceries with his family that morning and noticed a helicopter in the air and whistles being blown in the area. He said he realized that meant immigration agents were in the area and wanted to leave the Sam’s Club parking lot. Veraza said as the family was driving near the parking lot, a dark-colored pick-up truck driving in the opposite direction passed by them and someone in the truck sprayed them and other cars with a chemical irritant “for no reason.” * Block Club | Feds Pepper Spray 1-Year-Old, Use Tear Gas In Clash With Southwest Side Neighbors: ‘It Was A Reign Of Terror’: The family was in a Sam’s Club parking lot in Cicero when agents in a pickup sprayed pepper spray, which got into the family’s car, Veraza said. He was hospitalized, but his concern was for his daughter, 1-year-old Evelin. “Me, I’m a grown man, I can handle this. But my 1-year-old? We don’t know what [pepper spray] could do to her,” he said at a press conference Sunday. […] Chicago police responded to the area near 25th Street and Kedzie Avenue to help with crowd control following the report of shots fired at immigration agents, the department said in a statement. * Tribune | Inside Chicago’s growing resistance movement against Operation Midway Blitz: ‘Small acts have huge consequences’: In the beginning, the sight of it around Enriquez’s neck prompted questions and confusion in Little Village, one of Chicago’s proudest Latino neighborhoods. He remembers people asking him, perplexed: “What is a whistle gonna do?” “And we said, ‘Well, the whistle is in case immigration is around, and you start blowing. The whistle is for people who are undocumented to go away, to lock their doors, lock their gates and not open the door.’ “And it grew like wildfire. Now everybody’s using it.” * Ald. William Hall | Chicago loses with illegal ’sweepstakes’ machines: As chair of the Chicago City Council’s Subcommittee on Revenue, I convened a hearing on gaming a few months ago, and my fellow alderpersons have expressed the desire to end the presence of these deceptive doomsday sweepstakes machines. Unregulated and untaxed sweepstakes machines are a swindle, meant to mimic the legal and regulated video gaming terminals that you see everywhere else in Illinois and around our city’s borders — but not in Chicago. * Sun-Times | School leader from New York City is finalist for CPS top job after Denver chief says he’ll stay there: Alex Marrero, who has led the Denver Public Schools for four years, was one of two candidates left in the running, according to two sources with knowledge of the search process. But hours after the Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ reported he was on the shortlist, Marrero said in a statement that he is dedicated to his job in Denver “where I am proud to continue serving as superintendent.” Sources said the other finalist is Meisha Ross Porter, who led public schools in New York City in 2021. She is scheduled to interview with the board next week. * Sun-Times | Artists highlight lasting impact of Chicago’s 1919 race riot with glass markers in the Loop: More than 100 years ago, [Paul Hardwick] was on his way to work at the Palmer House hotel when he was chased by a mob of about 30 white aggressors. He was shot in the chest, beaten and robbed. He was long forgotten as one of 38 killed in the Chicago Race Riot of 1919, which historians say is not often taught or discussed. Of the 19 markers installed so far, Hardwick’s plaque is one of the most recent. It was featured on a public walking tour Saturday following a panel discussion about the project at the Harold Washington Library Center. The remaining 19 will be installed over the next several months, said Peter Cole, a history professor at Western Illinois University and co-founder of the project. * Tribune | Jeffrey Tobolski, ex-McCook mayor convicted in corruption case, dies months before prison term was to begin: Jeffrey Tobolski, whose roughly decade in power as both mayor of McCook and as a member of the Cook County Board ended amid a massive federal corruption case, died Sunday, two months before he was scheduled to report to prison. He was 61. Tobolski’s lawyer, James Vanzant, said his client died Sunday morning after a short illness. He did not have any additional details, he said. Tobolski was scheduled to report to prison after being sentenced earlier this year to four years. Tobolski was hospitalized twice in October with heart and lung issues and pneumonia, with doctors later noting a suspicious spot on his pancreas, a court filing last week stated. He previously had been scheduled to report to prison on Nov. 3, but the judge in his case recently extended that to Jan. 16, records show. * Daily Herald | Can suburbs, counties enforce ICE bans on government property? Some say no: “Just to be clear. These signs have no legal binding,” DuPage County Sheriff James Mendrick, a Republican candidate for governor, posted on his social media page. “Please don’t let DuPage County theatrics create the expectation that any law enforcement agency will have any legal authority to enforce the message displayed on this sign.” DuPage County Board Chair Deb Conroy authorized the signs after the county board approved a resolution, largely along party lines, decrying recent operations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and urging Congress to enact immigration reform. The resolution also recognizes the county’s right to declare certain county property private or for employee use only. […] A spokesman for the DuPage County state’s attorney’s office said Friday that the county can declare certain areas private or limited to employee-use only. However, there are no legal consequences the county can impose for disregarding the signs. * Sun-Times | Masked ICE agents put damper on Oak Park Girl Scout food drive: ‘It’s heartbreaking as a mom’: The scouts initially decided to continue with their food drive after Groulx explained to the girls that “just like a lifeguard blows a whistle to help somebody, these are neighbors that are blowing whistles to help somebody.” But after seeing more vehicles, presumably driven by federal agents, speeding past, she said the group decided it was not safe to continue with the food drive. * Daily Herald | District 211 fires two Hoffman Estates High teachers for inappropriate contact with students: The Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 board of education Thursday unanimously fired two tenured male Hoffman Estates High School teachers over allegations of inappropriate contact with female students over a number of years. The Daily Herald is not naming either teacher because they have not been charged, though the allegations involve potentially criminal acts. One of the men was suspended in January of 2024 for two days without pay for similar behavior. Hoffman Estates police officials said Thursday there have been no criminal charges filed against any current or recent employees of the high school. It’s unclear if they are investigating the allegations, and no one from the department was immediately available Friday afternoon. * Crain’s | Laura Ricketts’ $13M list of complaints about Wilmette mansion withers in arbitration: A six-year legal effort by Laura Ricketts to get $13 million back from the builders of her lakefront Wilmette mansion over what she considered construction defects concluded with an arbitration panel determining she was due something more like $600,000. With the decision, delivered earlier this autumn, “we feel like we’ve been validated,” Brian Goldberg, principal of LG Construction Group, which built the house, told Crain’s. “Our construction quality and our reputation have been validated” after being pitted against a high-profile client who, after she moved into the house 10 years ago, compiled a list of more than 1,500 complaints. * Crain’s | Transit bill includes $3.8M for Springfield-Chicago air service: The subsidy was contained in a single paragraph tucked inside the 1,036-page transit legislation that passed during the early hours of Halloween and is awaiting Gov. JB Pritzker’s signature. American Airlines currently operates twice-daily service between the Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport and O’Hare International Airport, but demand has been soft. “We are grateful to our partners at Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport for working closely with us to ensure it remains financially viable for us to maintain important air service between Chicago and Illinois’ state capital in Springfield,” American said in a statement. * WCIA | Budzinski meets with Champaign food assistance nonprofit about latest SNAP effects: On Thursday, WCIA reported a Rhode Island judge ruled the SNAP program needs to be fully funded for November. The USDA said it’s working toward fully complying with the order. As that news dropped, Congresswoman Nikki Budzinski met with the Champaign nonprofit The Land Connection to discuss how this effects more than just consumers. * WSIU | Lieutenant Governor Stratton hosts rural healthcare roundtable: Hearing these concerns Stratton worries current economic conditions of the hospitals will be exacerbated reaching beyond healthcare, “The fact of the matter is, that means a hit to the local economy. It means people not being as healthy. It means some of our most vulnerable Illinoisans who won’t have access to the care that they need. And that is unacceptable.” She says tackling these challenges cannot be solved only by legislation from Springfield - local communities should have a voice in possible solutions, “And that’s what I heard today. They have ideas. They have real thoughts on the impact. And I think that we have to take those stories to the halls of the Illinois State Capitol and make sure that they are shared far and wide.” * WSIU | Illinois Report Card shows Carbondale High School grows graduation rate: The Illinois State Board of Education released school report cards at the end of October. Area school districts are looking at the data to understand where students have grown and need to improve. WSIU’s Brian Sapp talked with Carbondale Community High School to find out what the report card is showing them. * WREX | New apartment complex coming to downtown Rockford: On Friday, a ribbon was cut on Nu-State Apartments, a new development at 119 N. Church St. in downtown Rockford. It is said the building will have 35 units when it opens, ranging from studios to two bedrooms. The building will also include a fitness center, resident lounge, and City Center Market on the ground floor. There will also be parking in a lot north of the building. * Press Release | SIU’s Simon Institute to host former CNN chief White House reporter: Jessica Yellin, a former CNN chief White House correspondent with nearly three decades of journalism experience, will join Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s Paul Simon Public Policy Institute for a virtual conversation on Thursday, Nov. 13. Yellin, the founder of the News Not Noise media platform, will discuss with John Shaw, institute director, the need for greater rigor, credibility and content in news reporting. She will also discuss her journalism career and Washington politics and national campaigns. * The Atlantic | Hundreds of Thousands of Anonymous Deportees: Judge Donoso Stevens yelled at a man to “stop talking!” while his own case was being heard and became frustrated with another who got confused when she referred to him as “the man in the green jacket.” (He wasn’t wearing a green jacket.) When a father said he was scared to leave the country without his 5-year-old, she ignored the comment and asked if he had enough money to pay for his ticket home. I was in court that day hoping to see how Trump’s new deportation mandate was playing out, but the hearings were moving so quickly that I was having trouble keeping up. * The Hill | DHS sees biggest jump in public approval among federal agencies: Gallup poll : Twenty-three percent in the Gallup poll said the job being done by the DHS was “only fair,” while 33 percent called the DHS’s job “poor.” * The Atlantic | The Best Postseason in Baseball History?: The early rounds of the postseason were enlivened by extraordinary feats from the game’s two biggest stars, but that was just baseball clearing its throat for the World Series, which earned its title—in English, Spanish, and Japanese; in the United States and Canada—as a genuine Fall Classic. Major League Baseball is 149 years old. The National League was founded a month before Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone. And the game somehow still delivers the unexpected and the unforeseeable.
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- Loop Lady - Monday, Nov 10, 25 @ 8:10 am:
Way to go out like a coward Dick.
Severely disappointed.
- Candy Dogood - Monday, Nov 10, 25 @ 8:13 am:
On the way out the door Senator Durbin is doing a lot to make sure he’s not remembered fondly and is included as a footnote for why the Democratic Party has consistently failed to rise to the occasion to provide leadership.
Why is he even still there if this is what he wants to do with his last year in office?
What was the point of his career in federal office if he plans on spending his last 2 years there helping to dismantle anything positive he accomplished?
I guess he still has time to endorse another Republican before he leaves office, but other than that this feels like a new low.
- JS Mill - Monday, Nov 10, 25 @ 8:34 am:
= it’s time for Leader Thune to keep his promise to schedule a vote on the ACA tax credits in December.”=
The senate democrats are the Charlie Brown of politics.
- Charles Edward Cheese - Monday, Nov 10, 25 @ 8:37 am:
I don’t understand Durbin’s motivations lately, unless he’s personally invested in torching his own legacy as he rides off into the sunset.
- ALIGNI - Monday, Nov 10, 25 @ 8:45 am:
Durbin is an example of the type of rot any party gets when incumbents go unchallenged and even protected by their party. The Republicans, nationally, have benefited over the past two decades from intraparty fighting. I think the Democrats could benefit, as well, from it.
- Candy Dogood - Monday, Nov 10, 25 @ 8:46 am:
===I don’t understand Durbin’s motivations lately===
From his last statement on the issue he seemed mostly focused on taking up sustenance.
===The senate democrats are the Charlie Brown of politics. ===
They’re willing to go to court to stop snap benefits from getting paid that are legally required to be paid and Democrats still think there is some decency behind their actions.
Meanwhile some of these folks clinging to their offices won’t even bother endorsing or supporting other Democratic candidates.
- Amalia - Monday, Nov 10, 25 @ 8:49 am:
Laura Ricketts filing for $13M on home construction issues seems very strange. a $600k settlement makes her initial ask look bad.
- Flyin' Elvis'-Utah Chapter - Monday, Nov 10, 25 @ 9:03 am:
Jay Leno said it best-
Every time I think I’m a Republican they do something greedy, and every time I think I’m a Democrat they do something stupid.
- yo - Monday, Nov 10, 25 @ 9:13 am:
Obviously the Prez didn’t care whether Govt open or not. When elephants fight it is the grass which is trampled. For social stability I’m glad it’s over. Hungry people are even less rational.
- Lincoln Lad - Monday, Nov 10, 25 @ 9:32 am:
Senator Durbin - how could you? Can you look in the mirror and say you believe this in any way will stop a long term and focused assault on the poor by the GOP? It won’t.
- low level - Monday, Nov 10, 25 @ 10:02 am:
For all those critical of Senator Durbin, I must ask: what exactly did you want him to do or would you have preferred he do?
- TheInvisibleMan - Monday, Nov 10, 25 @ 10:10 am:
“what exactly did you want him to do or would you have preferred he do?”
The Democratic party did not cause this shutdown. The Republican Party is in control of the legislative and executive branch of government.
The elimination of the filibuster was a viable path to end the shutdown, which was fully in the hands of the controlling party.
Instead Dubin has shown protecting the filibuster is more important than the programs he supposedly cares about. He didn’t get anything out of this decision. Literally nothing. If he did not do this, the outcome would have been the same.
This isn’t negotiation, it’s capitulation.
- JS Mill - Monday, Nov 10, 25 @ 10:14 am:
=For all those critical of Senator Durbin, I must ask: what exactly did you want him to do or would you have preferred he do?=
SOmething substantive would have been nice. If you are going to fight the shutdown fight then make it count. Instead they settled for a promise that everyone knows the gop will not keep- a real vote/discussion on ACA.
In the end Lucy (gop) said that she wouldn’t move the ball and that Charlie Brown (the democrats) could kick it.
So they helped cause a lot of pain and disruption and accomplished nothing.
As an independent, I don’t know how I can bring myself to vote for democrats anymore other than the fact that the maga gop is so repulsive.
- West Side the Best Side - Monday, Nov 10, 25 @ 10:20 am:
So, let me get the straight, the feds support separation of church and state when it comes to their lockup in Broadview, but don’t see the need for it when it comes to the Ten Commandments and the Bible (maybe ignoring what Jesus had to say about you neighbors and the poor) in schools.
Also I totally believe someone fired shots at the feds. Most likely suspect is the one year old they sprayed.
- low level - Monday, Nov 10, 25 @ 10:43 am:
The Republicans caved on the filibuster. That was a very good thing. The 60 vote cloture requirement is the only thing stopping MAGA from making even deeper cuts to programs that benefit working people.
Im frustrated as well but when you dont control the gavel, there is very little you can do.
- Amalia - Monday, Nov 10, 25 @ 10:47 am:
the critical issue moving forward is how the subsidies for the ACA happen/are structured. in some ways a subsidy at all is controversial. used to be that you would not have access to healthcare at all unless you were in some connecting portal. now anyone can have it. but, subsidies. millions of us who have healthcare are “subsidized” by whatever portal we are in union, work. but we still pay lots. I put this issue in the same basket as student loan forgiveness. what do we give for free? and now Trump proposes $2k gives to everyone. we must do better. fiscal responsibility is a government need and a personal need. discuss the subsidies with calm and clarity.
- Harrison - Monday, Nov 10, 25 @ 10:52 am:
Why would eliminating the Filibuster which was created in 1806 and last modified from 67 to 60 votes in 1975 be a good thing?
Do you have any idea how many crazy laws have been prevented by the 60 vote threshold?
- JS Mill - Monday, Nov 10, 25 @ 10:53 am:
=The Republicans caved on the filibuster. That was a very good thing. The 60 vote cloture requirement is the only thing stopping MAGA from making even deeper cuts to programs that benefit working people.=
I think we are in agreement generally speaking. Had the filibuster been eliminated and maga was given carte blanche there is no doubt more damage would have resulted.
I don’t think that the senate was ever really going to eliminate the filibuster though. I think there were enough in the gop on the senate side to realize that if that guardrail was gone, the gop was going to pay the price in the mid terms and in 2028. But certainly not before millions of Americans were hurt by their actions.
- The Dude Abides - Monday, Nov 10, 25 @ 10:54 am:
=Im frustrated as well but when you dont control the gavel, there is very little you can do.=
Nancy Pelosi would like a word
- Earnest - Monday, Nov 10, 25 @ 11:13 am:
>but when you dont control the gavel, there is very little you can do
Yet they were doing great. They had incredible election success last week, were opening up fractures between MAGA and the constitutionalists, ACA subsidies consistently in the headlines, even polling well. I cannot imagine an action they could take that could be more infuriating to their own supporters and more gleefully received by their opposition. I can’t imagine any action that would more remove any leverage they may have towards accomplishing their stated goals moreso than this.
- Harrison - Monday, Nov 10, 25 @ 11:22 am:
You can still beat the market by 581% without the gavel
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nancy-pelosi-beat-market-581-162100416.html
- Rich Miller - Monday, Nov 10, 25 @ 11:37 am:
=== I cannot imagine an action they could take that could be more infuriating to their own supporters and more gleefully received by their opposition===
Which is likely why they waited until after Tuesday’s elections. Could’ve driven down Dem turnout.
- TheInvisibleMan - Monday, Nov 10, 25 @ 11:43 am:
–
Why would eliminating the Filibuster which was created in 1806
–
It was created by mistake. It’s the unintended consequence of a seemingly simple rule change which was made with the intention of cleaning up the rules at the insistence of VP Burr.
It’s why the house and senate rules are different now. The House never made a similar rule change to the previous question motion, and debate can be ended by a simple majority vote.
It is arguably non-democratic and shouldn’t even exist. The fact it came about through an accident and wasn’t intended is even more reason to get rid of it. It’s mere existence meets neither the spirit or the letter of the law in how it came to be through a rule change.
Has it helped stop bad legislation? Maybe. You don’t know for sure though because those votes were never taken.
- Earnest - Monday, Nov 10, 25 @ 11:50 am:
>Could’ve driven down Dem turnout.
I think it will yet. I’ll need better than “I disagree with this” to vote for any of the candidates for Durbin’s seat. I’m not saying I’ll vote Republican, but I will not vote for a centrist or anyone who would vote for Schumer. I can’t believe our choices now range between anti-democratic authoritarians and 1990s-style Republicans.
- Excitable Boy - Monday, Nov 10, 25 @ 11:53 am:
- what exactly did you want him to do or would you have preferred he do? -
For the thousandth time, to not support the MAGA spending plans that gut former Democratic priorities.
- The Republicans caved on the filibuster. -
LOL, do you not know what caved means? Durbin caved, the GOP gets another year to keep torching whats left of democracy in this country
- H-W - Monday, Nov 10, 25 @ 12:08 pm:
I would have preferred the democrats not give in on the Affordable Health Care Act.
However, I do understand the reason for doing so.
Lots of people are now actually hungry. Last night at WalMart I saw a mother, her daughter and her granddaughter turned away from the checkout because they did not have enough SNAP benefits.
Lots of people have now been working for six weeks without pay. Their immediate concerns are quite pressing, and need to be addressed.
I get it about Health Insurance subsidies. But as Marx famously quipped in his rejection of Hegelian philosophy (paraphrased), ‘the hungry are not hungry because they have the wrong ideas. They are hungry because they have no food in their stomachs. Feed them first.’
- This Just In - Monday, Nov 10, 25 @ 12:25 pm:
A huge percentage of individuals in this Country do not have the time or interest to join the perpetual hyper-partisan debate.
What they do understand is that it is the fundamental job of elected officials to keep government running. No exceptions. Get it done.
The rest really is Charlie Brown like - “wonk, wonk, wonk, wonk, wonk”. Same circus different clowns. Excuses over action would lead to being dismissed from almost any private sector job.
“But, but, but . . . .” press conferences enrage the rest of planet Earth.
- Pundent - Monday, Nov 10, 25 @ 12:46 pm:
=However, I do understand the reason for doing so.=
As do I. The GOP seemed to be comfortable with the suffering becing caused here. They took the Rauner mantra of “starving the beast” to a whole new literal level. It needed to end.
Removing ACA subsidies will increase the cost of health insurance for millions of people going forward. At the same time, millions of federal workers and SNAP recipients are hurting right now. There were no good choices to be made here.
- JoanP - Monday, Nov 10, 25 @ 12:52 pm:
Best headline of the weekend, from the Trib editorial page: “What’s the point of Illinois Republicans?”
- Lurker - Monday, Nov 10, 25 @ 1:08 pm:
“The senate democrats are the Charlie Brown of politics.”
See Pat Bagley’s cartoon today. I think he owes you some royalties
- Lincoln Lad - Monday, Nov 10, 25 @ 1:22 pm:
Surprised there is little discussion that the republicans in Washington could have caved. They are the ones who just got destroyed in elections across the country. They had more reason to fear their next election in my opinion. If the Dems chose to cave, it needed to be in entirety, not a few. It needed to be with the narrative that they were seeking to stop the complete destruction the GOP was okay with. Durbin is smart enough to realize that, yet he weakened his own team. The negotiation for a change should have occurred within the party… the GOP has been empowered again. The splinter group gave them a lifeline when they’d just been knocked to the floor.
- Rich Miller - Monday, Nov 10, 25 @ 1:35 pm:
===The splinter group===
Not buying that framing.
- Candy Dogood - Monday, Nov 10, 25 @ 1:37 pm:
===He didn’t get anything out of this decision. Literally nothing. ===
I believe the term for this is a “Schumer Win.”
- low level - Monday, Nov 10, 25 @ 1:42 pm:
==Surprised there is little discussion that the republicans in Washington could have caved.==
Pray tell, when was that going to happen? They already made clear they dont care if health premiums go up and are quite content to let people starve.
So when was the GOP going to suddenly see the light and realize the error of their ways?
- low level - Monday, Nov 10, 25 @ 1:48 pm:
When exactly was the GOP going to cave? They made clear they dont care if people starve. So when were they going to see the light?
- Earnest - Monday, Nov 10, 25 @ 2:02 pm:
>Lots of people are now actually hungry.
After months of the courts upholding Trump actions or the USSC artfully dodging to enable him yet avoid setting precedents, you had a court ordering hom to pay SNAP benefits for November, a chance to make him follow a directive from another branch of government, and him going to extraordinary lengths to avoid that. And Democratic leadership throws him a lifeline because, what, empowering him is going to help people in poverty?
I’m having a hard time dealing with the “rogue senators” posturing when it was a structured role call brokered by Democratic leadership and am doing my best not to get myself banned.
- Pundent - Monday, Nov 10, 25 @ 2:16 pm:
=Surprised there is little discussion that the republicans in Washington could have caved.=
They were literally starving people, ignoring the courts, and directing states to do the same. Does that sound like a party that was about to cave? I get that the heat would have been turned up higher as this dragged on. But 40% of SNAP recipients are kids. How long do we let them go without food?
- Earnest - Monday, Nov 10, 25 @ 2:28 pm:
>How long do we let them go without food?
Long enough to get the Trump administration to follow the orders of a non-Executive branch of government or until they look so heinous refusing to do so that people can no longer stomach them.
- G'Kar - Monday, Nov 10, 25 @ 2:32 pm:
I realize I could be 100% wrong, but my take is that Durbin took one for the team. With the Supreme Court staying the release of SNAP funds (issued by Jackson no less) and the continuing chaos at airports, Dem leadership came to believe that the pr tide would begin to turn against them, so they worked out this exit ramp. Durbin, being a lame duck, could give some gravitas to the senators who had to vote with Republicans while still giving cover to those who wanted to keep the govt closed.
Or as I said, I could be wrong and many of you have more experience with this than I do.
- Excitable Boy - Monday, Nov 10, 25 @ 2:39 pm:
- Does that sound like a party that was about to cave? -
So you should always capitulate when your opponents are bad? Sounds like a winning strategy.
- Pundent - Monday, Nov 10, 25 @ 3:24 pm:
=So you should always capitulate when your opponents are bad? Sounds like a winning strategy.=
You’re asking me to choose between capitulating and kids starving?
- Dotnonymous x - Monday, Nov 10, 25 @ 3:24 pm:
It should be called “The Durbin Double-cross”…forever.
- Earnest - Monday, Nov 10, 25 @ 3:29 pm:
>issued by Jackson no less
It was a smart and strategic play that would force the USSC to actually rule on the issue rather than do their ongoing cute game of enabling Trump while trying to avoid setting precedents.
I would agree that Durbin took one for his team, that team being 1990s Republicans pretending to be Democrats. He wants to make sure that team continues to be in the leadership positions into the future.