WASHINGTON (AP) — Now. government shutdown is overHouse and Senate Republicans said they would negotiate with Democrats on whether to extend coronavirus-era tax credits that help pay for health insurance for tens of millions of Americans. But finding bipartisan agreement before the subsidies expire at the end of the year could be difficult, if not impossible.
The shutdown ended this week with support from a small group of Democrats. made a deal Republican senators have promised to vote on the extension by mid-December. Affordable Care Act subsidies. But the outcome is not guaranteed, and many Republicans have made clear they want the credit to expire.
It’s far from the outcome Democrats had hoped for, as they kept the government shut down for 43 days and called for negotiations with Republicans on an extension before insurance premiums skyrocket. However, he plans to try again when the expiration date approaches.
“We don’t know yet whether they’re serious or not,” said House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York. But he said the Democratic Party is “just getting started.”
Republicans are meeting behind closed doors to discuss the issue. Some want to make changes and extend the subsidy to avoid widespread premium increases. Others, like Mr. Johnson and Mr. Trump, want to start a new conversation about overhauling Obamacare, a fresh start after a similar effort failed in 2017.
Democrats insist on extension
Healthcare has been around for a long time One of the toughest questions on Capitol Hillcharacterized by deep ideological and political divisions. Partisan disagreements over the 2010 law have been going on for more than a decade, and relations are already strained by weeks of partisan tension over the government shutdown.
Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said Republicans are committed to negotiations and a Senate vote, but Democrats are cautious. She pointed out that Mr Johnson had not promised anything in the House of Commons.
“Do I believe any of them? No way,” DeLauro said.
If the two sides cannot reach an agreement, up to 24 million people who receive health care from the exchanges created by the law could be harmed. Watch your premiums go up starting January 1st. New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, one of the Democrats who reached a deal with Senate Minority Leader John Thune (R.S.D.) to reopen the government, said she believes a deal on tax credits is possible.
Shaheen said he and others spoke during the talks that led to the closure being lifted. moderate democratic party He sat across from Tune and “looked him in the eye” as he put in serious effort.
“We will have an opportunity to vote on the bill that we will write by mid-December, and that will give us a chance to build, and hopefully build, bipartisan support to pass the bill,” Shaheen said.
Democrats would like to extend the tax credit permanently, but most agree that is unlikely. Just before the government shutdown ended, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York proposed a one-year extension and a bipartisan commission to address Republican demands for changes to the ACA. But Thun said this was a “misfire” as government offices remain closed.
In the House of Representatives, Democrats are proposing a three-year extension.
what the republican party wants
While Republicans have long sought to scrap Obamacare, they have had challenges over the years in figuring out what would replace it. The issue plagued a 2017 effort by then-Sen. Arizona Republican John McCain cast the deciding vote to defeat the bill on the Senate floor due to insufficient details.
Republican Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, and Rick Scott, R-Fla., who chair the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, are proposing an overhaul of the law that would create accounts that direct funds to individuals rather than insurance companies. Those were the thoughts President Trump had when he signed the funding bill Wednesday night.
“I want this money to go directly to you, the people,” President Trump said.
Exactly how that would work is unclear, and even if Republicans were able to get a yes vote, repealing the bill in its current form would take months, if not years, of negotiations.
Negotiations get off to a slow start
Some moderate House Republicans have said they want to work with Democrats to extend the aid before a deadline approaches in the coming weeks. Pennsylvania Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, Republican co-chair of the Bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, encouraged negotiations in a letter to Thune and Schumer on Wednesday.
“Our sense of urgency could not be higher,” Fitzpatrick wrote. “Our willingness to collaborate knows no limits.”
But so far, Senate Republicans have been meeting on their own to try to figure out their differences.
“We’re just trying to come to a consensus among ourselves at this point,” Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said Monday after Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee met to discuss possible ways forward.
Tillis supports extending the tax credit, but said lawmakers also need to find ways to reduce costs. Tillis said if the two sides ultimately can’t reach an agreement, Republicans may have to find a way to do so on their own, using the budget package that allows passage. President Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” There were no Democratic votes this summer.
“We should all have that in our back pockets, too,” Tillis said.
Another shutdown?
Some House Democrats have raised the possibility of another government shutdown if they fail to win concessions on health care. The bill signed by President Trump will fully fund some parts of the government, but unless Congress acts, others will once again be underfunded by the end of January.
“I think it’s going to fall on vulnerable House Republicans who can’t go back to their voters without telling them they’ve done something in the health care field,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Washington.
California Democratic Rep. Mark Takano said “we’ll just have to wait and see” whether another shutdown is a possibility.
Rep. Jim McGovern (Mass.) said if Republicans don’t extend the subsidies, “I’m not going to vote to support their atrocities.”
DeLauro said Republicans have wanted to repeal the ACA since it was first enacted. “They’re trying to get there,” she said.
“On January 30th, we will know what progress has been made,” she said.
