Chaos in Congress caused Democrats to blink. Eight senators voted with Republicans to end the filibuster and allow a vote that would reopen the federal government.

There is great internal conflict within the Democratic Party over the wisdom of capitulation to end the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. But for citizens who need food assistance or plan to travel by air for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays there is no such ambivalence.

The objective of the Democratic block on government funding was to force a renewal of subsidies for the Affordable Care Act health insurance program that expire at the end of the year. Instead, Democrats accepted the promise of a Senate vote on the issue in December.

The Democratic consensus was to keep fighting, but the breakaway senators s

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