House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) warned Monday that Democrats won’t accept any Republican spending bill that makes life more expensive for working class people, pointing specifically to looming health care cuts as a “five-alarm fire” that must be addressed to win his party’s support for legislation preventing a shutdown.
Just hours before he and other top congressional leaders were scheduled to meet with President Trump at the White House, Jeffries amplified the Democrats’ opposition to the Republicans’ partisan bill, saying it’s doomed to fail unless Republicans agree to scale back the scheduled cuts to health care programs.
He did not draw specific red lines but pointed directly to threats to Medicaid, Medicare, medical research, vaccine availability and tax credits under ObamaCare that are due to expire at the end of the year.
“What we will not do is support a partisan Republican spending bill that continues to gut the health care of the American people,” Jeffries told reporters in the Capitol. “This is a five-alarm fire in terms of the Republican-caused health care crisis. And that’s why Democrats are determined to turn things around.”
Trump had initially agreed to meet with leaders from both parties last Thursday, but he canceled the gathering two days beforehand at the behest of GOP leaders in the Capitol, who maintain that their “clean” spending bill is already bipartisan and requires no further negotiations.
On Saturday, Trump reversed course again, scheduling the meeting for 2 p.m. Monday at the White House. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Jeffries are all expected to attend.
If Congress doesn’t reach a deal, large parts of the government will shut down at the end of the day Tuesday.
Heading into the meeting, GOP leaders have remained open to the idea of addressing the ObamaCare subsidies, which, if they’re allowed to expire, would lead to a spike in health care costs for millions of patients. But the Republicans don’t want that issue to be a part of the current spending debate, arguing that they have time to address it later in the year, since the tax credits don’t expire until Jan. 1.
Jeffries and Democrats have rejected the longer timeline. They note that ObamaCare’s open enrollment process begins Nov. 1, warning that patients will likely opt out of coverage if they see rate quotes — calculated before Congress acts — that they deem unaffordable.
Jeffries also dismissed the Republicans’ argument that Democrats, as part of any new negotiations, should expect new bans on health care for immigrants lacking permanent legal status. He said that ban is already in effect.
“Federal law prohibits the expenditure of taxpayer dollars on providing health care to undocumented immigrants,” Jeffries said. “Nowhere have Democrats suggested that we’re interested in changing federal law. The question for the president is whether he’s interested in protecting the health care of the American people.”
Monday’s breakthrough meeting has provided a glimmer of hope that the sides can reach a deal before Wednesday’s shutdown deadline. With both sides digging in on their current position, however, many in Washington expect the government to close its doors, at least temporarily, which is sure to intensify the blame game over which party is at fault for the impasse.
Republicans say Democrats bear that blame, since Schumer and other Senate Democrats are now opposed to spending levels they had supported in March. Their short-term spending bill, through Nov. 21, is designed to buy lawmakers more time to hash out a longer-term bipartisan compromise.
Democrats reject that argument. And Jeffries emphasized Monday that Republicans control the Senate, the House and the White House, saying it’s therefore their responsibility to draft legislation that can become law and avert a shutdown.
“If the government shuts down, it’s because Republicans want to shut the government down,” he said.