Fellow Conservative,

Democrats are in disarray and Bluesky libs are having a meltdown over the end of the shutdown. House Democrats began calling for Chuck Schumer’s resignation as Senate Minority Leader this week, after eight Democrat senators broke ranks to vote to reopen the government.

The longest government shutdown in history came to an end with a whimper. On Monday, eight Senate Democrats had enough of Schumer’s shutdown tactics and waved the white flag. This didn’t come as much of a surprise, though. It was getting to the point that even their allies in the liberal media couldn’t defend their antics any longer.

So… after weeks of grandstanding, handwringing, and insisting Senate Democrats would hold out until their leverage was used and their demands met, what did Schumer achieve?

 

Well… except costing Americans $15 billion every week the shutdown continued.

Thanks for that one, Chuck.

What’s in the bill?

Overall, this is a win for the Trump administration, congressional Republicans, and the American people. The Democrats capitulated and got nothing more than a promise of an eventual vote on extending Covid-era Obamacare subsidies… plus they have egg on their faces. That alone is a success.

The bill that passed is a partial continuing resolution (CR) that funds the government until January 30, and a limited minibus that funds programs such as veterans’ benefits for the rest of the year. That being said, there are a few items grassroots should be aware of:

  1. This is only a short-term solution. Democrats will regroup and likely seek to force another fight around the funding deadline in January. Thankfully, they will have much less leverage this time around.

  2. The Senate included a provision that allows a handful of Senators to sue the government for up to $500,000 as a result of the Biden FBI/DOJ Arctic Frost scandal. It was an abuse of power that the Biden DOJ/FBI spied on their political enemies, but taxpayers are rightly upset that they could be on the hook to fund this. Speaker Johnson has announced that the House will take up a bill to repeal this provision.

  3. As part of the minibus, the Senate included a handful of earmarks submitted from both sides of the aisle — including some that fund non-profits that conservatives could see as wasteful. This is the risk that comes with Republicans reengaging in the earmark process and why Heritage Action has continued to oppose earmarks.

  4. The deal rescinded the Reduction in Force orders (RIFS) that the Trump administration put out and put a hold on new RIFS through January 30.

Heritage Action commends Senate and House Republicans for successfully holding the line. In doing so they also exposed the faulty arguments behind the Biden-era COVID subsidies. These Obamacare subsidies mask the structural rot that has overtaken the American healthcare system, and were the crux of the Democrats’ demands.

Grassroots 1 – 0 Swamp

Heritage Action Sentinels led the fight against the swamp throughout the shutdown. We have a few more letters to the editor to share from Sentinels:

  • Leslie Gregg was published in the Mukilteo Beacon (WA), highlighting the hypocrisy of Sens. Murray and Cantwell receiving their paychecks while denying pay and critical funding for the American people.

  • Michael Spangler was published in the Lancaster News (PA), thanking Sens. Fetterman and McCormick for voting to reopen the government while Democrats pushed further expansions of the failing Obamacare system.

  • Emery McClendon was published in the Journal Gazette (IN), praising the commitment of Sens. Young and Banks to reopen the government while Democrats put illegal aliens over the American people.

The shutdown is over, and Congress has a lot of catching up to do. Last week we covered the investigation into the Arctic Frost scandal — this must continue. It’s imperative that the American people know the truth about the Biden DOJ/FBI’s weaponization against conservatives. But there’s plenty more that Congress still needs to get done.

Here’s just some of what the next few weeks will hold.

The NDAA is in Conference

Both the House and Senate have each passed their versions of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and are negotiating the final text of the bill. While the bulk of it is the same, there is one key provision conservatives have been fighting for — the inclusion of legislation prohibiting a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).

In short, a CBDC is a digital currency controlled by the federal government. That seems like a reasonable enough thing — if you are a believer in private ownership of crypto currency that is — however there's a sinister side that's cause for alarm. Because it's controlled by the federal government, it’s trackable and could easily be used to control what you can or cannot purchase.

President Trump recognized the danger these pose, as did the House when they passed H.R. 1919, the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act. House leadership assured conservatives that the bill would be included in the NDAA, but conservatives will need Democrat votes in the Senate to send it to President Trump’s desk.

>> Tell Congress to include anti-CBDC text in the NDAA.

Obamacare Subsidies

The COVID-era Obamacare subsidies that Democrats shut the government down over expire in December… and the left isn’t going to let it go without a fight.

Healthcare costs have drastically increased over the past 15 years since the passage of Obamacare, and the current subsidized plans cover both abortion and sex-rejecting mutilation procedures. The Obamacare subsidies mask the structural rot that has overtaken the American healthcare system since 2010.Heritage Action stands ready to engage on healthcare reforms that will actually address health insurance affordability and choice. The first step in doing so is allowing these add-on subsidies to end.

President Trump had already been leading the way against leftist violence when he designated Antifa a domestic terror organization in September, but he just took the fight to another level. This week, he designated four more European-based Antifa organizations as foreign terrorists.

President Trump understands the danger that these violent extremists pose… but does Congress? That's yet to be determined.

>> Tell Congress to support President Trump in his fight against these Soros-backed terrorists!

The transgender agenda is losing ground. Again.

This week the Supreme Court handed the Trump administration a big win against the leftist ACLU by allowing a policy that requires passports to match their sex, not “gender identity” to remain in effect. This is big. Government agencies won’t be forced to deny biological reality while litigation over the policy plays out. Learn more on this week’s episode of Case in Point.

In other encouraging news, it was also reported that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is likely to rule that biological men cannot compete against women in the upcoming 2026 Olympics. Male athletes, who possess immutable physical advantages over females, often outperform female athletes. This may be a loss for sports betters looking to make easy money... but would be a win for sanity.

The battle isn’t always restricted to the ballot box or the halls of power in D.C. Sometimes, they’re within non-governmental institutions like the IOC. The fact that the same institution who put on an opening ceremony mocking Christianity is now preparing to require athletes to compete according to their sex demonstrates the momentum we are building to protect women’s safety and opportunities.

- The Heritage Action Team

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