Tipsheet

GAME OVER: Dems' Push for Illegal Alien Health Care Implodes As House Passes Bill to Reopen Government

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  November 12, 2025 8:21 PM

It’s over. The Democrats’ ploy to shake down the government for $1.5 trillion for NPR funding and illegal alien health care. It was 40-plus days of abject stupidity by liberal Democrats. The GOP wasn’t going to budge on these policy issues. They did move slightly on no further layoffs for federal workers. Not too upset about that since we held firm on what was at the core of this shutdown. No way were we going to compromise on these two fronts. 

The Obamacare subsidies were on Congress’s radar. It needed to be resolved, but the shutdown derailed things, along with numerous appropriations bills. The initial continuing resolution was a clean one, lasting 7 weeks, with no poison pills, and set at Biden-era funding levels. Democrats supported everything in the CR in March. We played these games, and now it’s over—the House voted 222-209 to reopen the government and end this madness. Six House Democrats joined the Republicans. It now goes to Trump's desk for signature.

Senate Democrats couldn’t take the nonsense. They knew this was a fool’s errand, which is why eight defected and signed onto a deal that is virtually what Republicans offered from the beginning: the deal funds government through January 30, SNAP through September 2026, and a vote on the subsidies. Republicans won. Trump won. How do we know this? Have you heard the Democrats’ screaming over this deal—it’s deafening, like shrieks from the pod people (via Axios): 

A private call of House Democrats devolved into a furious vent session Monday afternoon as lawmakers fumed about a group of Senate centrists cutting a deal with Republicans to end the shutdown. 

Why it matters: Over a dozen House Democrats spoke on the call, with the vast majority slamming the deal, sources told Axios — a volume that reflects deep outrage between the two chambers. 

Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.) said the public is incensed at what they see as Democrats caving on the shutdown fight, telling her colleagues, "People are f**king pissed." 

Nearly "everyone [was] strongly against" the deal, said one House Democrat who was on the call but spoke on the condition of anonymity to share details of a private discussion.  

RSC Chairman August Pfluger (R-TX) issued the following statement: 

For over six weeks, Democrats held our country hostage over demands for healthcare for illegal aliens and to prove to their base they could 'stand up' to President Trump. The Republican Study Committee stood firm in rejecting any extension of COVID-era insurance subsidies that fuel fraud and drive up costs for American families, and in preventing Democrats from using the Christmas holidays to force a wasteful omnibus through Congress. Let me be clear: Democrats gained nothing from their shutdown while hardworking families paid the price. Now, it is time to get back to governing and delivering on the mandate we were given by the American people last November. 

Game. Set. Match. The government is reopened after being closed, thanks to Democratic histrionics and abject stupidity.