WASHINGTON, D.C. – Six days into the government shutdown and it looks we might be in a shutdown for a little longer. On Capitol Hill, Democrats and Republicans continue to play the blame game as the pause in funding impacts government programs.
The Senate will vote again on Monday on the Democratic and a separate Republican version of a continuing resolution. Both fund the government but the Democrats are adamant that they want to include certain healthcare policies in this bill.
At the heart of the Democrats’ debate is extending the Affordable Care Act subsidies. They expire at the end of December but open enrollment in many states starts at the beginning of November. Lawmakers said by not extending these subsidies, it could bump up premiums if they expire. They also add it could lead to people dropping their health care coverage.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R- LA) signaled that there would be a willingness among House Republicans to look at healthcare policy with Democrats but not until the Republican-backed continuing resolution funding measure is passed. However, a lack of trust for both Democrats and Republicans about this issue is clear on the Hill. Democrats are worried that Republicans would back out of those talks if they agreed to their CR version now.
The Speaker has canceled votes in the House this week as a way to put some pressure on Democrats to end the showdown, so that’s why House members aren’t here. Here’s what the Speaker said on Monday:
“There’s nothing for us to negotiate or to debate right now because the House already did that,” said the Speaker. “The House did its job. We passed our bill. We did the job to keep the government open and now it’s on the Senate Democrats.”
There will be no votes in the House this week. A new House Democrat, Adelita Grijalva of Arizona, who won in a special election, is questioning why she hasn’t been sworn into office yet. Reports state the Speaker’s office claims the standard practice for swearing in members is when the House is meeting, however, Democrats are saying otherwise noting that the Speaker swore in other Republicans this year when the House was not in session for legislative business. Some are claiming that the Speaker is delaying this because it would give the Democrats, and a few Republicans, enough support for their discharge position to bring a vote on releasing the full Jeffrey Epstein files.
