President Donald Trump can't seem to bring himself to make a deal with congressional Democrats.
While Democrats are fired up for a showdown with Trump, their main demand in negotiations has been the extension of pandemic-era subsidies for health insurance bought under the Affordable Care Act that are set to expire.
The Congressional Budget Office estimated that would cost $350 billion over 10 years, a relative pittance compared to the more than $3 trillion cost of his "big, beautiful bill."
Instead, the standoff has become the latest example of a major theme of Trump's second term: his belief that his victory in last year's election gave him a mandate to pursue his agenda aggressively and without respect for the typical checks and balances on the presidency.
Democrats' politics' "is what allowed me to win the Presidential Election, including all seven Swing States, and the Popular Vote," the president wrote in a Truth Social post last week, canceling a meeting with top congressional leaders that was later rescheduled. "There are consequences to losing Elections but, based on their letter to me, the Democrats haven't figured that out yet."
From imposing sweeping tariffs to bucking court orders and firing officials at independent agencies, Trump has sought to expand the powers of the executive branch, and he's faced little pushback from Congress or the Supreme Court.
But the budget fight is different. Because of Senate rules requiring a supermajority to move ahead with the budget, the Democratic minority has some leverage. Along with the extension of the Obamacare subsidies, they've asked for a reversal of cuts to Medicaid in the reconciliation bill that the Congressional Budget Office estimates would lead to millions of Americans losing their health care.
Read Akayla Gardner's full analysis here.
