This Week’s Winston Group Discussion Points: “The Shutdown: How Did We Get Here?”

A Historical Lens on the Current Standoff
This week’s Winston Group Discussion Points spotlights David Winston’s latest Roll Call column, “The Shutdown: How Did We Get Here?”—a concise yet powerful look at how political choices made more than a decade ago have shaped today’s government gridlock.

Winston traces the roots of the current shutdown debate to the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) original design. Despite controlling the White House, Senate, and House in 2010, Democrats chose to make key health care subsidies temporary rather than permanent—a decision that now sits at the center of the impasse.

From the ACA to the Inflation Reduction Act
Winston walks readers through the legislative timeline—from the ACA to the American Rescue Plan and the Inflation Reduction Act—showing how Democrats repeatedly advanced expansive programs through reconciliation without Republican support. Now, with Republicans in control, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries are insisting those temporary subsidies become permanent, effectively demanding that Republicans achieve what Democrats could not when they held unified power.

The Cost of Short-Term Politics
Cited this week on CNBC’s Squawk Box in an interview with Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, Winston’s column underscores the fiscal and political stakes of this fight. Making the enhanced subsidies permanent would add $350 billion in new spending over ten years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Winston concludes that Democrats’ earlier decisions—to prioritize other spending and bypass bipartisan consensus—have come full circle, resulting in a standoff with no clear off-ramp. As he notes, “There are no winners in the shutdown, especially the American people.”