cnn.com/2025/02/16/politics/de…

"You pull every lever that you have on things that you disagree on, but I have to say, this idea that to shut the whole place down…” Booker said, his voice trailing off, and then affirming he does not support any kind of government shutdown. “The levers that we have are limited, but at the same time, all of us share the lever of speaking out…"

The only power that the Democrats have right now is the power of the purse - and if Booker won’t use that, he is useless. Worse than useless even, as he is motivated to give the impression that the Democrats are resisting even as they are not.

I can understand that he wants to keep the money flowing to his most important constituents - the MIC.