House Speaker Mike Johnson said Monday there is no rush to resolve skyrocketing Obamacare costs that are at the heart of the contentious government shutdown, which was set to stretch on with no end in sight.
The Republican congressional leader brushed off the urgency to negotiate with Democrats to head off spiralling premiums for the government-backed heath insurance program, even though up to 22 million Americans will be hit with sticker shock on Nov. 1 when annual enrollments start.
“We have effectively three months to negotiate. In the White House and in the halls of Congress, that’s like an eternity,” Johnson told MSNBC, referring to Jan. 1, when new insurance plans would actually take effect.
“We need folks in good faith to come around the table and have that discussion,” Johnson added. “And we can’t do it when the government is shut down.”
Johnson’s statement underlines Democrats’ fears that President Trump and his Republican allies have no plans to address their demands for concessions on Obamacare, which the GOP has long despised, and Trump’s draconian cuts to Medicaid.
Democrats are demanding negotiations to make permanent or extend a program subsidizing Obamacare premiums that is set to expire at the end of the year.
Open enrollment in most states begins on Nov. 1, and massive increases in premiums could force millions of Americans to not renew health care coverage, even if Congress later agrees to extend some or all the subsidies and possibly reverse some of the price hikes.
With Johnson and Trump vowing not to return to the negotiating table on the issue, there is scant hope for a deal to end the shutdown anytime soon.
The Senate was again set to reject a Republican stopgap spending bill that would reopen the government by extending funding till Thanksgiving. Only three Democrats are backing the plan, leaving the GOP far short of the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster.
Trump has vowed to carry out mass layoffs of government workers, taunting Democrats for giving the White House additional powers by stumbling into the shutdown.
But so far he hasn’t actually made good on threats, possibly with an eye on polls that show more Americans blame Republicans for the shutdown.
SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson holds a press conference at the Capitol on Monday blaming Democrats for the government shutdown. (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
Other painful problems stemming from the shutdown may soon pile up.
A food aid program that helps more than 6 million low-income mothers and young children will run out of federal money within two weeks, forcing states to use their own money to keep it afloat or risk it shutting down, experts say.
The $8 billion Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, also known as WIC, provides vouchers to buy infant formula as well as fresh fruits and vegetables, milk and other healthy staples.
Programs like WIC, which rely on annual infusions from the federal government, are nearly out of money because they didn’t get funding as expected on Oct. 1. WIC is being kept afloat by a $150 million contingency fund, but it will quickly run dry.
