Congressional Democrats said they won’t end the shutdown in part because they don’t trust Republicans to address health care once the government reopens.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries suggested the shutdown is the only leverage Democrats have to force Republicans to extend enhanced Obamacare subsidies set to expire this year.
“Republicans have zero credibility, zero, on the issue of health care,” the New York Democrat said, noting Republicans have been trying to dismantle Obamacare since it was enacted 15 years ago.
“We have to address the health care crisis that they’ve created decisively,” Mr. Jeffries said. “That means legislatively, and that means right now.”
Republicans, however, say they will not negotiate with Democrats on a potential extension of the subsidies unless they vote to reopen the government. And even then, they won’t guarantee a result.
Senate Democratic leader Charles E. Schumer has “ground the entire federal government to a halt over one small subset of tax credits in the Obamacare system, which is broken,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, said. “When the government has to subsidize something, it is a clear sign that it is not working.”
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Mr. Johnson said, “It will take a lot of work to build consensus, if there is even any version of a reformed version” of the subsidies that could pass.
“There’s no way for us to project today what that final outcome would be, because we’re in a deliberative body with 535 members, and it takes a lot of time to reach a point of decision on a matter like that,” the speaker said.
The seemingly irreconcilable positions have left the government shut down for 10 days and counting. The Senate is out of session until Tuesday, so no resolution is expected before then, meaning the shutdown will last at least two weeks.
On Friday, congressional leaders said they did not plan to budge from their respective positions, even as the Trump administration announced it had begun mass layoffs of federal workers.
“Republicans would rather see thousands of Americans lose their jobs than sit down and negotiate with Democrats to reopen the government,” Mr. Schumer of New York said.
Mr. Schumer and Mr. Jeffries are calling on President Trump and GOP leaders to negotiate with them on health care and other issues they say must be part of any bill to reopen the government.
Democrats’ top demand is an extension of their COVID-era expansion of the Obamacare subsidies, which capped out-of-pocket premiums at 8.5% of household income and allowed families earning above 400% of the federal poverty level to access the benefits.
Letting those enhancements lapse would “more than double what subsidized enrollees currently pay annually for premiums — a 114% increase from an average of $888 in 2025 to $1,904 in 2026,” according to KFF, a nonprofit health policy research, polling and news organization.
President Trump said the subsidies waste billions of taxpayer dollars but he’s open to a deal that makes improvements to the program.
“If we made the right deal, I’d make a deal, sure,” he said.
Democrats believe Mr. Trump needs to be involved in any deal to pressure Republicans to go for it and have pointed to Mr. Johnson and his conference as the biggest roadblock.
“Speaker Johnson is so clearly trying to prevent those Republicans that support ACA extensions of the subsidies from engaging with us,” said Sen. Andy Kim, a New Jersey Democrat and former House member.
He said the speaker is afraid that conservatives who oppose the subsidies will move to oust him if he agrees to an extension.
Mr. Johnson made the comments about the subsidies being a sign Obamacare is broken during a press call with members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus who have been vocal about not wanting to extend the COVID-era expansion.
That increased pandemic spending has not stopped insurance companies from raising rates even as their profits have increased 230%, and they reject claims at a 30% rate, said Rep. Scott Perry.
“And so if there’s going to be some realistic plan to rectify that, I’m all ears,” the Pennsylvania Republican said, adding he’s not interested in spending more money to prop up Obamacare and the insurance companies “while the people that actually pay the bills go bankrupt.”
House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, Maryland Republican, agreed that any debate on the subsidies should involve a more comprehensive look at how to bring down health care costs.
“The Affordable Care Act is not affordable,” he said. “Premiums have gone up for the benchmark plans by 40% in the past six years. And the growth in these subsidies is one of the most rapidly growing parts of the mandatory budget.”
The enhanced subsidies expire at the end of the year, but Democrats want a resolution before Obamacare open enrollment begins Nov. 1. The Congressional Budget Office says legislation to extend the subsidies would not have an impact on premiums after that date.
Insurers have largely locked in premium rates for 2026, which will increase regardless of what happens with the subsidies because of other factors, like inflation, labor costs and drug prices.
KFF, a nonprofit health policy research organization, said insurers in the Obamacare marketplace have proposed an average rate increase of 20% for 2026, only 4 points of which can be attributed to the pending expiration of the enhanced Obamacare subsidies.
Mr. Jeffries dodged when asked during a press conference on Friday if the insurance companies are responsible for rising premiums and if there’s bipartisan interest in conducting more oversight of them.
“There’s a bipartisan interest, I hope, in extending the Affordable Care Act tax credits and addressing the massive Medicaid cuts that Republicans have inflicted on the American people,” he said. “And I hope that there’s bipartisan interest in trying to reopen the hospitals, the nursing homes and the community-based health centers that are closing because of Republicans and their failed policies this year.”
• Lindsey McPherson can be reached at lmcpherson@washingtontimes.com.