At 22 days and counting, the current government shutdown is officially the third longest in history. Healthcare remains a central sticking point, with Senate Democrats refusing to pass a clean continuing resolution in hopes of negotiating an extension on Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies.
"The government is shut down, people. Healthcare prices are out of control, and insurance premiums are about to soar," U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell (D-Birmingham) said in a video message posted to X on Tuesday. "And Republicans are too busy pointing fingers and not at work. You know, I'll work with anyone to reopen government and make our healthcare more affordable. It's time for Republicans to do their job and get back to work so we can stop this madness."
Sewell said House Republicans needed to return from "vacation" and get to work ending the shutdown.
However, since the House already passed a clean continuing resolution to open the government, the onus is on Sewell's Senate counterparts to end the deadlock.
U.S. Sen. Katie Britt (R-Montgomery) said on ABC News Tuesday that Democrats could reopen the government at any time if they would agree to a clean continuing resolution instead of "playing politics" at the expense of the American people.
"I think we've got to get back and make sure that the Democrats open the government so that people can get their paychecks, so that WIC can continue, and truly so that things like food stamps don't run out," Britt said. "There are real issues that are coming to play because of the politics that Democrats are playing. When you look at this ACA conversation that Democrats are bringing into the fold here, look, this is a problem of their own making, Lindsay. If you go back to Obamacare, starting in 2010, you move to 2014, where they began these subsidies. These COVID-era subsidies that they're talking about right now began in 2021, renewed in 2022. They themselves actually set the deadline in 2025 for the expiration of these subsidies. At the end of the day, what we're hearing from people is that there is fraud in these, that there is abuse and it's not necessary for people who may be millionaires or make $600,000 a year to receive these. So, if these are going to continue, you certainly have to make sure that there are reforms so that things are sustainable."
Britt said the Democrats have voted for the Senate's clean CR bill 13 times before, and to hold out now shows how "broken" Obamacare really is.
"When it comes to the increases [in premiums] that people will see in 2026, 80% of those increases are just because of Obamacare. They have absolutely nothing to do with the subsidies. What Democrats are showing here is they know the system that they created is absolutely broken. And so they are clamoring for someone to blame, and they are doing their best to latch on to this."
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