Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer laid out a new Democratic counterproposal for ending the government shutdown: attaching a one-year extension of soon-to-expire Affordable Care Act subsidies to a spending stopgap that would reopen agencies.
Schumer outlined the proposal during a floor speech Friday that was heavily attended by other Democratic senators in a show of caucus unity.
“We would like to offer a simple proposal that would reopen the government and extend the ACA premium tax credits simultaneously,” Schumer said.
Schumer proposed a “clean” one-year extension to the tax credits that expire on Dec. 31 — meaning they would not include new restrictions on eligibility that many Republicans have sought. He also proposed creating a bipartisan committee to negotiate a longer-term solution for the subsidies and other health care reforms, to begin its work after the government reopens.
Senate Republicans have warned repeatedly that the government has to be reopened before Democrats get any vote on the ACA subsidies. But Democrats have balked so far at those terms as they pressure President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans to cut a deal now to address the expected spike in Obamacare premiums.
“This is a reasonable offer that reopens the government, deals with health care affordability and begins a process of negotiating reforms to the ACA tax credits for the future,” Schumer said. “Now the ball is in the Republicans’ court. We need Republicans to just say, ‘Yes.”
