Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) sent an explicit warning to Republican leaders Wednesday that the proposals they are considering to fund the government and avoid a shutdown on Oct. 1 do not have enough Democratic votes to pass the Senate.
“What the Republicans have proposed is not good enough to meet the needs of the American people and not good enough to get our votes,” Schumer told a group of reporters just off the Senate floor.
“Democrats have always said we need to meet the needs of the American people, particularly when it comes to costs and health care costs,” he added.
Schumer reiterated his call for Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to meet with Democratic leaders to work out a bipartisan compromise.
“Leader Thune needs to sit down with us and negotiate a bipartisan bill that meets these needs in order to get something to pass,” he said.
A person familiar with Schumer’s thinking said the statement was worded broadly to cover an array of Republican proposals related to the thorny question of funding the government past Sept. 30.
Schumer’s remarks came in response to a proposal from the White House to pass a funding stopgap that would last until Jan. 31, which, if enacted, would likely foreclose the possibility of getting a longer-term spending deal before the Christmas and New Year’s recess.
They also came in response to Thune’s comments to reporters Tuesday evening that appeared to close the door on adding an extension of enhanced health insurance subsidies provided by the Affordable Care Act to the stop-gap funding measure that needs to pass by the end of this month.
Thune has not ruled out an extension of those enhanced subsidies later on this year but explained he does not want it on this month’s short-term CR, which he says should be “clean.”
Democrats, however, argue that insurance companies need to inform their customers soon about whether the enhanced subsidies will be available in 2026 and warn that millions of Americans will be hit with substantially higher health insurance rates if they are allowed to lapse.