Democrats attempt last-ditch effort to save Obamacare subsidies as shutdown end draws near

House Democrats attempted a last-ditch maneuver to secure an extension of COVID-19-era emergency Obamacare subsidies on Monday. 

Rep. Glenn Ivey, D-Md., took to the floor in a pro forma session asking the mostly empty chamber to unanimously approve its passage.

“I ask unanimous consent to extend the ACA tax credits,” Ivey said, referring to Obamacare.

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If successful, Ivey’s motion would have allowed the bill to clear the chamber without a single vote. His attempt failed, however, as the chair, Rep. Adrian Smith, R-Neb., drowned out Ivey by gaveling over his motion.

Ivey’s unorthodox maneuver highlights divisions among Democrats as the government looks toward a resolution on the shutdown, and it comes after the Senate advanced a bill on Sunday evening that would reopen the government through Jan. 30.

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Since the beginning of the shutdown, Democrats led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., have demanded that lawmakers extend expiring emergency subsidies passed in 2021 as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now that the supplemental funding will phase out at the end of the year, Democrats have raised alarm that a sudden stop to federal assistance will leave many policyholders facing higher premiums overnight.

But the resolve to continue holding out over the credits cratered among Democrats on Sunday when eight of them voted with Republicans to put the government on track to end the 40-day government shutdown that began on Oct. 1. 

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Democrats in the House of Representatives have largely called the vote a capitulation to Republican demands, noting that Democrats have not secured any substantive agreements on the subsidies themselves.

Having cleared the threat of a filibuster on Sunday evening, the Senate will likely advance the short-term spending bill within the next two days. Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has said the House will consider it as soon as possible once it passes the Senate.