WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader John Thune has offered Democrats a standalone vote on extending enhanced Obamacare subsidies in exchange for voting to open the government back up.
So far, Democrats have rejected the overture by Thune (R-SD) as the partial shutdown enters its third week.
“At some point, Democrats have to take ‘yes’ for an answer,” Thune told MSNBC’s “Way Too Early” Thursday.
“Can I guarantee an outcome? No,” he added. “I can’t guarantee it’s going to pass.”
Senate Democrats have voted nine times to block a House-passed resolution to fund the government through Nov. 21.
Three Democrats or Democrat-aligned senators — Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and independent Angus King of Maine — have voted to end debate on the funding bill, but the remaining 44 conference members have held firm.
Democrats have demanded an array of concessions on healthcare policy, including a reversal of GOP-championed Medicaid reform and an extension of pandemic-era enhancements to Obamacare tax credits, which are set to expire at the end of the year.
Thune and other GOP leaders previously said they would consider a measure to extend some increased Obamacare subsidies, but have been adamant that debate be kept separate from funding the government.
Republicans have also made clear they want to attach reforms to any extension of those subsidies.
“We are all about getting health insurance down, making it more affordable to more people,” Thune said Thursday.
“There is a pathway forward [for an Obamacare extension], but it has to include reforms.”
Another schism between the two sides is House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ (D-NY) demands that any ObamaCare subsidy extension be permanent.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has kept his chamber out of session for weeks as part of a strategy to pressure Senate Democrats into endorsing the temporary spending bill.
The current government shutdown record is 35 days, set during a funding pause that lasted from Dec. 22, 2018, to Jan. 25, 2019.
“I hope it doesn’t last through Thanksgiving,” Thune warned, “because that’s going to be a lot of harm to the American people and obviously a lot of harm to federal workers.”
