The Deal
By 
I guess I am in a significant minority on the left, but I don’t see this government shutdown deal as a capitulation or sellout at all. What I see is the following:
A) CHIP is a huge policy win for Democrats. You might say that Republicans had to deal with this anyway. No they didn’t. It’s a party of nihilists who don’t care if children die. Taking CHIP off the table for 6 years is a positive win.
2) Taking CHIP off the table undermines Republican leverage for the next battle. They have no policy position that Democrats must vote for going forward.
3) The deal is only for a few weeks. On February 8, if the Republicans have not dealt with Dreamers, then Democrats can shut the government down again, this time with the very clear narrative that Mitch McConnell is a liar and that they gave Republicans a chance to fix the problem and they are all lying liars who lie.
4) Despite the incredibly inhuman injustice of our immigration policy, no Dreamers will be deported before February 8.
Now, if February 8 comes and Democratic senators back off of a confrontation to protect Dreamers, that’s really bad. But this gives another few weeks to ratchet up the pressure on them and on Republicans to get this done.
I don’t see a downside here. But then I am just a neoliberal shill who apologizes for the Democratic Party.