Posted on 09/26/2025 4:05:58 PM PDT by nickcarraway
An impending government shutdown presents an opportunity
The U.S. government is about to run out of money. If Congress does not pass a spending bill -- or a short-term continuing resolution that keeps money flowing temporarily -- there will be a federal government shutdown this coming Tuesday.
Moments like these are rare opportunities for the party that is not in control of Congress. As the New York Timesopens in a new tab or window described it, "...passing a government spending bill that can win the necessary 60 votes depends on attracting at least a small amount of Democratic support. That will require bipartisan negotiation, an art that has been fading steadily on Capitol Hill and has so far been lost altogether during Mr. Trump's second term."
In other words, Democrats have some leverage here. How should they use it?
So far, I've heard the usual fantasies, which boil down to using the threat of a shutdown to convince the other side to abandon its most cherished projects.
Try as they might, Congressional Democrats are not going to get their Republican counterparts to get behind, say, reversing $1 trillion in cuts. But there's something that Democrats can do. They can make the Republicans an offer they can't refuse.
Congressional Democrats should make an uncharacteristic offer to support some deep cuts enumerated in the recent House and Senate markups of the appropriations bill for the coming fiscal year. In exchange, they should require that President Trump fire HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., or accept his prompt resignation.
Democrats should consider some of the extraordinarily deep cuts in the proposed budget President Trump floated earlier this year -- cuts that were so extensive that neither chamber of Congressopens in a new tab or window included them in their recent versions of the spending bill. To be clear, these cannot be superficial concessions, but must instead be impressive enough to get Republicans' attention. These cuts must be carefully chosen, but they would have to be significant enough that, absent the offer, many or most of the proposals would be likely to die during the negotiation process. That's the only way to get their attention. Remember, without a deal like this, many of these cuts are likely to eventually happen anyway.
This deal would be worth it for both sides. Whether President Trump realizes it or not, this deal would indeed be to his long-term advantage. Secretary Kennedy poses a unique threat to President Trump's primary legacy from his first term -- Operation Warp Speed, the successful effort that led to effective vaccines against COVID-19 in months, instead of years. Trump's leadership on COVID-19 vaccines in 2020 saved hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of American lives.
However, Kennedy has taken several steps that could destroy Trump's vaccine legacy. He has spread falsehoods about the vaccines, including saying in 2021 that they are the most dangerous vaccinesopens in a new tab or window ever created. And since his confirmation as health secretary, he has continued to undermine vaccination and canceled hundreds of millions of dollarsopens in a new tab or window in research that could prevent another pandemic or end the emergency phase of one sooner.
Secretary Kennedy also poses a unique threat to President Trump's second term legacy -- something the President may not yet recognize. By attacking our nation's vaccine infrastructure -- by dismantling the rigorous and transparent process that ensures that our policies are firmly rooted in the best-available totality of the science, and by paving the way for actions that may scare vaccine manufacturers off the market -- Kennedy is risking the lives of millions of American children. If more measles outbreaks occur as a result of decreased vaccine uptake, the attendant increases in severe pediatric illnesses and deaths will squarely be Trump's responsibility.
Kennedy's inability or refusal to understand the way science actually works is also starting to create self-defeating optics for the administration, including the bizarre spectacle of the President repeatedly yelling, "Don't take Tylenol" from behind a podium at the White House. (The FDA had to walk backopens in a new tab or window some of what was said at that press event.)
This unforced error -- trying to pin increased rates of autism on acetaminophen (Tylenol) use during pregnancy when the evidence on this is far from certain -- is likely to backfire for the President in many ways. First, millions of Americans will feel wrongly shamed for having taken a medication that is safe and effective. In fact, the medication may actually contribute to lower rates of adverse pediatric health outcomes in pregnant women who take it to treat feversopens in a new tab or window. The "precautionary principle" invoked by the President's FDA Commissioner is therefore not applicable here. Second, the complete abandonment of norms in developing public health policy might someday cause the President's opposition to embrace a similar style when they are in control.
While an eye-for-an-eye approach would not be the ideal response (a return to a commitment to rigorous, settled science would be), it's easy to imagine that's where we're headed. No one is served by this, short-term victories notwithstanding.
President Trump can end these threats to our nation's public health by requesting Secretary Kennedy's immediate resignation. This would also be a gift to Republicans, many of whom sense that Kennedy's damage will soon be unpopular.
Yes, Kennedy's replacement will have to pass Senate confirmation. But this time, the Senate will not be so easily fooled by false assurances, the fate that befell Sen. Bill Cassidy, MD (R-La.)opens in a new tab or window, a pro-vaccine physician, who was bamboozled into offering the last-minute support Kennedy's successful nomination needed.
The 20th century was the first one in which surviving childhood became the normopens in a new tab or window in the U.S. Life-saving vaccines were a big part of that achievement. Equally important, however, is our national vaccine infrastructure, which ensures that people can receive them. Removing threats to access to vaccines -- threats introduced by Secretary Kennedy -- matters more than almost anything in the 2026 spending bills. Congressional Democrats should be willing to swallow a bitter pill on some cuts if it means a generation of children will be guaranteed the protection offered by vaccines.
A version of this piece originally appeared in Inside Medicineopens in a new tab or window.
RFK, Jr. was an inspired pick for HHS. He is giving the corrupt, insular, predatory federal health care bureaucracy a much needed shakeup.
LOL LOL they are DELUSIONAL. Trump would love nothing better than to shut down the Govt, that way he can fire at will, and as far as RFK Jr goes, the ONLY reason why the left wants him gone is because they are ALL in bed with big pharma, as long as kids and adults are sick, they get MILLIONS
Proof an MD can still be a moron.
How about an annual budget, and not just a spending bill that runs out around Thanksgiving? You know, the stuff that got us through the first 200 + years of this country’s history.
I like that he’s shaking up the pharma industry but do you think people should go to prison if they’re a ‘climate denier’?
That’s what RFK said he thinks should happen, and that’s just one of his stupid ideas.
They have no cards, sonething good like spending cuts requires a concession? FU
Will someone please break the news to Jeremy that the Democrats have no power to do anything
Here’s a better idea, Doc.
Tell the Democrats to pound sand! :)
The government ran out of money 40 trillion dollars ago.
“Jeremy Faust, MD, MS, MA”
What a coincidence. This very afternoon I listened to a Jordan Peterson podcast with Paul Kengor about Karl Marx’s satanic Faustian bargain with Lucifer.
A most excellent interview.
I don’t know about the rest of the party, but it looks like this Democrat is willing to throw the rest of the welfare state overboard in order to save big pharma. He may also be fighting for the MSM because they are surviving on pharma advertising dollars. Without fat people dancing around celebrating their diabetes drugs a lot of people will be fired at the networks. It might even percolate down to smaller sports contracts.
Priorities.
Dream on!
MedPageToday must be over the top left—there was not one even slightly reasonable (as in not lefty-nutcase) commenter on the article.
This assumes that more than three people in Congress actually support spending cuts. This proposal would be laughed out by both R’s and D’s for the same reason — spending must continue and keep increasing.
100% true.
Fiction. Trump wants a shut down. The Culling.
I’ve got an idea. How about no? How about Trump give them nothing and radically slash the federal bureaucracy if they cause a government shutdown?
They can't put that in the law - Bill of Attainder. They would have to accept a "promise" from President Trump. You know they can't do that, both personally and especially politically.
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