There is no avoiding it now – the federal government is shut down for the first time since 2018, with no end in sight.

Democrats insisted this was a necessary stand to protect COVID-era Obamacare tax breaks that are set to expire in December, and they held that line to the end.

In that narrow sense, they won.

But it is a win that will come at a steep cost for the country. 750,000 federal workers are now furloughed – they are actually at risk of being fired if they even show up to do their job. Meanwhile, veterans’ benefits will face delays, small businesses will wait longer for loans, food safety inspections may slow down, and much more. All over a fight that could have been handled in regular order, through the normal committee process, without holding the entire government hostage.

Let us be clear: Republicans bear their share of blame. They pushed a stopgap bill without any meaningful input from Democrats, knowing full well that it would not fly. That is not how you negotiate when the stakes are this high. But neither side gets to claim the moral high ground here. Both parties failed to find a responsible way forward.

For Democrats, this is what a Pyrrhic victory looks like. The political base is satisfied, and the donor list is fired up. But the country is no better off, and millions of Americans will be worse off.

That is why the votes taken by Senators John Fetterman, Angus King, and Catherine Cortez Masto deserve real praise.

They were the only members of the Senate Democratic caucus who voted for the continuing resolution. That vote failed to meet the 60-vote threshold to prevent a filibuster, but it was still the right vote.

The pressure on these Senators to fall in line was immense. The easy choice was to vote with their party, prepare the talking points and the fundraising ads. The harder choice was to step back and look at what this moment really demanded: restraint and perspective to see the big picture.

They made the harder choice.

At No Labels, we have said it before and we will say it again: shutdowns are a failure, not a strategy. They are disruptive, pointless, and dangerous. And the only way to break this cycle is to reward the leaders who have the courage to stand against it.