For more than 40 days, an impasse among members of Congress and President Donald Trump over funding the federal government left millions of Americans in limbo. That ended last week when eight senators — seven Democrats and one independent — voted with 52 Republicans on another continuing resolution, this one lasting until Jan. 31, to restart federal operations.

What some on the left have condemned as a capitulation was instead an acknowledgement of the pain inflicted by the shutdown and an effort to reframe the parameters of debate. Importantly, it ends the uncertainty for millions of Americans who struggled to make ends meet as Congress dithered.

While the defectors’ gambit may not be successful — and chances are high that it will fail — the shutdown illuminated the targeted cruelty of

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