Dem
47
GOP
53
There is a great deal of publicity about the Democrats' "condition" for reopening the government, namely restoring health-insurance subsidies. But that isn't the only condition. Another important one is that recission bills would no longer be privileged and could be filibustered. This would eliminate the possibility of the Republicans making a deal on spending with the Democrats and then immediately passing another bill that couldn't be filibustered to renege on the deal. In effect, the legal loophole to impound funds would be closed and Trump would have to openly break the law to do so. He might well do so anyway, but openly breaking the law could be an article of impeachment if the Democrats capture the House in 2026. This is kind of weedy, so Democrats aren't talking about it much, but they are definitely serious about it.
Another item on the Democrats' menu is explicitly granting any person or organization that lost funding due to an illegal impoundment the right to sue for redress in federal court. This would overturn a Supreme Court decision that victims of illegal impoundments have no rights. Just suck it up, victims.
One more thing on the Democrats' wish list is to make federal officials who actually carry out impoundments, by refusing to send out the checks Congress has ordered them to send out, subject to fines. If this is written into law, OMB Director Russell Vought will be the first target. Interestingly, there is already a federal law on the books subjecting federal officials to penalties if they spend more money than Congress approved. So why not also penalties for spending less than Congress approved? One of Congress' main powers is the power of the purse, but if the president can just ignore Congress and make spending decisions on his own, it completely changes the balance of power between the branches. These changes would go a long way to restoring what the founders had in mind when they wrote the Constitution.
Needless to say, Republicans want no part of any of this. So the shutdown continues. (V)