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The government shutdown entered its sixth day on Monday, and Senate Democrats are so firmly planted in their position that unless there is a deal on expiring Obamacare tax credits, they will not reopen the government.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and his caucus have largely remained unflinching in their demand that Republicans and President Donald Trump agree to a deal on the tax credits, which are set to expire by the end of the year.
It’s one of several demands they made in their counter-proposal to the GOP’s continuing resolution (CR), and appears to be the one that they believe to be the most attainable. Their other demands, repealing the healthcare section of the “big, beautiful bill” and putting guardrails on the rescissions, are a nonstarter for Republicans and the White House.
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Still, no party that has introduced unrelated demands into a government shutdown fight has walked away with a victory. The last government shutdown in early 2019 saw Trump demand that Democrats provide funding for his border wall, and he walked away empty-handed.
Throughout last week, Senate Democrats maintained a posture that they wanted Republicans to come to the negotiating table on the subsidies, which are set to sunset at the end of this year. Conversations among members are ongoing, which both Schumer and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., have encouraged.
“We want Democrats to talk with Republicans,” Schumer said. “And so it’s a good thing.”
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But, he countered that Republicans hadn’t offered “anything really new — just the same old stuff.”
“And so, nothing new on [Obamacare], nothing on rescissions,” he said. “And so, look, Democrats want to go back and negotiate again, but they got to negotiate with something, get something in return.”
Democrats’ initial push was to make the subsidies — created during the COVID-19 pandemic to ease the cost of healthcare premiums available through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) — permanent. The subsidies were later enhanced through the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022 when Democrats last had a trifecta in Washington. That change removed the income cap on the subsidies.
Republicans have said that they are interested in working out something on the tax credits, but that there should be reforms to the program.
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“The Obamacare enhanced, or COVID subsidies, are inflationary, and rates have been going up because that program is fundamentally flawed in ways designed,” Thune said. “That doesn’t mean it can’t be reformed and fixed. It can, but we can’t get to that conversation until we get the government back open.”
Lawmakers are set to again vote on Republicans’ CR, and it is again expected to fail for a fifth time Monday, given that no deal was struck over the weekend. Both sides agree that a deal won’t come from the top level, but will have to be borne from negotiations among rank-and-file members.
Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., has been directly involved in the member-level negotiations and said that Republicans did want to tackle the Obamacare issue. But, Democrats have to agree to reopen the government first.
“It would be nice if Senator Schumer could say his shutdown is complete, but we suspect that it will take members of his conference to make that decision on his behalf,” Rounds said.
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