Democrats not ready to end shutdown fight without ‘tangible results’ on Obamacare subsidies
Senate Democrats, after starting to splinter over their shutdown strategy, appear to be uniting again over their key demand of securing an extension of enhanced Obamacare premium subsidies.
That throws a wrench into bipartisan talks in which some Democrats had been entertaining a Republican offer to hold a Senate vote on extending the subsidies, after passage of a new spending package to reopen the government.
A majority of Senate Democrats objected to that proposal as a GOP red herring that is designed to fail, and appeared to have convinced their colleagues to fight for more.
“The Republicans, they hold the gavels, they hold the White House and they are refusing to negotiate right now, but we certainly feel very recommitted to this fight of trying to deliver tangible results to help people with exploding health care costs,” said Sen. Andy Kim, New Jersey Democrat.
Republicans plan to hold a test vote Friday to see if any Democrats are willing to move forward with their original offer, after the shutdown this week broke the record for the longest in history and its impacts continue to worsen.
“The clear path forward here with regard to the [Affordable Care Act] issue is they get a vote and we open up the government and we head down to the White House and sit down with the president and talk about it,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, South Dakota Republican, said. “But just right now, this hostage-taking has got to stop.”
SEE ALSO: Far-left Democrats, emboldened by election wins, warn party leaders on shutdown: Don’t cave
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Democrats expanded premium tax credits used to subsidize Obamacare coverage to further limit consumers’ out-of-pocket costs, currently capped at 8.5% of household income. The expansion also allowed individuals and families earning above 400% of the federal poverty level to access them.
Those pandemic enhancements to the subsidies are set to expire this year, and average consumer premium costs will more than double if Congress does not act.
Senate Democrats discussed during a caucus lunch on Thursday how far to push their demand for an extension of the subsidies, and emerged with a renewed sense of purpose and unity.
Sen. Chris Murphy said Democrats’ sweep of Tuesday’s off-year elections in states like Virginia and New Jersey was a “watershed moment” in which voters rejected Mr. Trump’s “mishandling of the economy” and elected Democrats to lower costs.
“All of us in the caucus heard that loud and clear,” he said. “We want to stay together and unified, and we had a really good conversation about how to do that.”
Mr. Trump acknowledged that the shutdown was a negative for Republicans in Tuesday’s elections, but has not changed his posture against negotiating with Democrats to end it. Instead, he’s leaned further into a push for Republicans to resolve the issue on their own by using the “nuclear option” to change Senate rules.
SEE ALSO: ‘Good money after bad’: Senate hearing explores the consequences of Obamacare subsidies
“I think it’s time for them to end the filibuster and just put everybody back to work,” the president said Thursday when asked whether Republicans should change their tactics.
More than a dozen Senate Republicans said they remain opposed to ending the filibuster, making that option unviable.
GOP leaders have not given up on a bipartisan deal and have been working on an updated spending bill based on the cross-party talks.
“I think there are Democrats who are inclined to do the right thing, but they’re under an enormous amount of pressure from the left,” Mr. Thune said.
Mr. Thune is planning to hold a test vote on Friday to see how many Democrats are interested in moving forward with the new spending bill, the details of which are still being finalized.
“I don’t see any votes changing at this point,” said Sen. John Fetterman, Pennsylvania Democrat who has sided with the GOP in voting 14 times for the House-passed stopgap to fund the government through Nov. 21.
The new spending bill under negotiation would amend that measure with a later date. Republicans are still debating between a December or January deadline, but appear to be leaning toward the latter.
It would also add three of the 12 annual spending bills that Senate and House appropriators have nearly finished negotiating, measures funding the legislative branch and the Departments of Agriculture and Veterans Affairs. That means the stopgap portion of the package, known as a continuing resolution or CR, would only apply to the other nine spending bills.
Democrats said a positive development on Thursday was Republicans’ willingness to add language to the package ensuring the federal workers who were laid off during the shutdown are recalled and provided back pay.
But the sticking point was Republicans’ unwillingness to include the Obamacare subsidies in the deal.
“There are ways to make sure that the continuing resolution contains language about the Affordable Care Act,” said Illinois Sen. Richard J. Durbin, the Democratic whip, who suggested either that “or something that has the same impact” to ensure the House takes action is key.
Mr. Thune said he won’t offer Democrats anything more than a separate vote on extending the enhanced Obamacare subsidies.
Democrats are skeptical that Republicans won’t just ensure the vote fails. And even if they can get a bipartisan deal on the subsidies in the Senate, they fear the House won’t take it up.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, affirmed those concerns on Thursday, saying, “I’m not promising anybody anything. I’m going to let this process play out.”
Democrats involved in the bipartisan talks have said Mr. Trump and GOP leaders need to engage to help break the impasse.
“If their position remains, ‘We will not speak to you,’ we’re going to have a really hard time resolving this,” said Sen. Chris Coons, Delaware Democrat.
• Susan Ferrechio contributed to this report.
