00:00But my big question to you is, why did the Democrats fold and agree to reopen the government?
00:06Because they appeared to have caved quite significantly.
00:08You know, sometimes there are human elements which are here.
00:13For those eight senators, Democrats who, seven Democrats and Independents who joined the Republicans,
00:20they were saying, look, the Trump administration was playing the scorched earth here.
00:25700,000 federal employees who not only had been furloughed without pay, but who were being threatened with being fired.
00:34Another 700,000 working without pay.
00:37Food assistance for 40 million Americans completely stopped.
00:43Transport being snarled, especially air transport, because you couldn't get people to come into work without pay.
00:50So the American economy was in trouble, especially for those who really, really rely on the government for day-to-day support.
01:00And so those eight senators said, look, we need to stop that pain.
01:04They did get a token concession to have this vote on the tax credits for Affordable Care Act in mid-December.
01:12If they do not get that vote, or if that vote does not succeed, then we'll be back at this point in January.
01:20But the difference in January will be that millions, tens of millions of Americans will have paid more than double their premiums on health insurance from November to January.
01:30That will put the Democrats in a stronger position if they tell the administration,
01:35no, we're not going to let you have another line of credit here because you are not dealing with health care.
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