Democrats are threatening to block a bill needed to avert an Oct. 1 US government shutdown unless Republicans agree to stop a sharp spike in Obamacare health insurance premiums or meet other demands by the minority party.
Obamacare insurance subsidies, which have slashed premiums for millions of Americans, will expire Jan. 1, and out-of-power Democrats said they view the stopgap funding bill as their best legislative chance. Republicans need at least seven Democratic votes in the Senate to pass the bill.
“The bill they proposed can’t get our votes,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer told reporters on Wednesday of his party’s ongoing talks with Republicans.
Schumer has backed off similar threats before, coming under blistering criticism in March from liberals when he acquiesced to Republican demands during another government funding fight. The Democratic base has become only more restive nine months into President Donald Trump’s second term and just over a year ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune in an interview Tuesday said that the stopgap, known as a continuing resolution, must again be free of policy add-ons and said there was no need to negotiate with Schumer.
“No, this has to be a clean CR,” he said.
Extending the insurance subsidies, which would cost some $24 billion for one year, causes problems with some House and Senate Republicans.
House Budget Chairman Jodey Arrington is leading the opposition, arguing there is no amount of anti-fraud or means-testing that could save the credits, which benefit Americans far above the poverty line and were too extensive.
The expanded tax credits allow families with incomes of more than 400% of the poverty to receive credits and caps their premiums at 8.5% of income.
“I doubt you could get a majority of House Republicans to vote for an extension,” Arrington said.
Even so, the extension generally appeals to swing-district moderate Republicans like Jennifer Kiggans of Virginia who is in a tight race next year. Insurance premiums could rise as much as 75%, according to health research group KFF, making it a true pocketbook issue that would threaten endangered Republicans.
Democrats have less leverage in the House, where Republicans can rely on their narrow majority to pass a stopgap bill.
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries criticized a “clean CR” and demanded Obamacare changes but stopped short of saying he would vote no. He said he’d have more to say after meeting with Schumer later Wednesday.
House Speaker Mike Johnson warned Democrats not to threaten a shutdown.
“The ultimate question of whether there’s gonna be a government shutdown at the end of the month is gonna be up to congressional Democrats. And that’s just the way it is,” Johnson told reporters Tuesday.
Republicans control all levers of power in Washington and received the bulk of the blame for the prolonged government shutdowns of Trump’s first term.
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