News broke late Sunday night that congressional Republicans and Democrats had reached a deal to keep the government open through September, and it looks like a monster win for Democrats. The headline news: they managed to keep Planned Parenthood funded despite defunding Planned Parenthood being a long-cherished goal not just of many congressional Republicans but of Mike Pence.
Sure, Republicans got an extra $12.5 billion to $15 billion in unneeded defense spending (reports on how much vary), and they got an extra $1.5 billion for border security. But Republicans have both houses of Congress and the White House. Of course they’re going to get much of what they want … and here, the border security money is explicitly not for Donald Trump’s precious wall and the extra money for the military is around half of what Trump had demanded.
Meanwhile, Planned Parenthood, Planned Parenthood, Planned Parenthood. But that’s not the only win for Democrats. The reported bill includes money to help Puerto Rico keep making its Medicaid payments. It doesn’t go after sanctuary cities. In what has to be a blow to Jeff Sessions, it blocks the Justice Department from persecuting states with medical marijuana laws. The National Institutes of Health will get an additional $2 billion, when Trump had wanted to slash its budget—but that’s not just a Democratic win. That one is a bipartisan Congress vs. Trump.
“This agreement is a good agreement for the American people, and takes the threat of a government shutdown off the table,” according to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. “The bill ensures taxpayer dollars aren’t used to fund an ineffective border wall, excludes poison pill riders, and increases investments in programs that the middle-class relies on, like medical research, education and infrastructure.”
The government funding fight will come back around in September. Maybe Republicans will have their act together to do more evil then. But Democrats have managed to launch into Trump’s second 100 days on a high note after his first 100 days held few major accomplishments. And congressional Republicans have shown—at least for now—that they won’t go to the mat for Trump’s priorities.
We’ll take our wins where we can get them in the age of Trump.