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Democrats want to extend Obamacare credits. Republicans have other ideas.

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Senate Democrats are projecting optimism they’ll be able to strike a bipartisan deal to extend Obamacare subsidies in the coming weeks. But Senate Republicans have their own plans.

Republicans appear to be quickly pivoting from the debate around Affordable Care Act tax credits to developing their own health policy agenda, with many conservatives now feeling like they have the blessing of President Donald Trump to pursue alternative solutions to spiking insurance premiums. Among the ideas they’re considering is the creation of new health savings accounts.

The shutdown-ending deal the Senate passed Monday night lacked an extension of the Obamacare subsidies, which expire at the end of the year, and Democrats instead secured a commitment for a vote on the credits next month. Democrats who brokered that government funding compromise are insisting they’ll be able to make headway on negotiations over the tax credits and are looking to land the bipartisan health care compromise by the second week of December.

But the fractured conversations among Republicans are promising to bog down negotiations as Obamacare beneficiaries begin to lock in their rates for the year ahead. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are starting to privately admit it’s likely too late to avert a major premium hike for millions of Americans in 2026.

“Obviously our folks have an interest in having some of our own ideas out there,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Monday when asked whether Republicans would generate a counteroffer on the subsidies or collaborate with Democrats. “There’s some goodwill on this issue. We’ll see if something lands.”

Thune told reporters that Senate Finance Chair Mike Crapo of Idaho, Senate HELP Chair Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Senate GOP Steering Committee Chair Rick Scott of Florida and Finance Committee member Roger Marshall of Kansas will be among those spearheading talks with Democrats on a potential Obamacare compromise.

On the Democratic side, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is expected to run point on health care talks, but other Democrats including Sens. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Senate Finance ranking member Ron Wyden of Oregon will be involved, according to a person granted anonymity to share internal caucus dynamics.

Shaheen, fellow New Hampshire Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan and independent Sen. Angus King of Maine brokered the shutdown-ending deal Schumer opposed for not including an ironclad promise to extend the credits.

GOP members of Senate Finance, which has jurisdiction over the ACA, huddled Monday afternoon to broach their own ideas, though they were tight-lipped afterward about what proposals were discussed.

The gathering came after Cassidy and Scott called on Republicans to ditch the Obamacare tax credits altogether and fund tax-advantaged health savings accounts for individuals to pay directly for care.

Sen. Thom Tillis, a retiring Finance Committee Republican, said in an interview Monday that it would probably be smart to extend current policy for a year because of the encroaching deadline and then implement changes the following year.

“If you really want to bend the curve on health care, then you gotta have a serious discussion about what works and what’s not working in Obamacare and fix it,” he said.

Senate Republicans appeared Monday to be largely split over whether to pursue the option endorsed by Tillis or plow ahead on a more ambitious conservative overhaul of the nation’s health care system.

Cassidy has been exhorting his colleagues to back a new idea to put money into employer-sponsored accounts that would allow individuals to set aside pre-tax dollars for medical expenses.

Trump over the weekend gave a boost to the concept when he said in a Truth Social post that “the Hundreds of Billions of Dollars currently being sent to money sucking Insurance Companies… [should] be sent to the people.”

“If we extend the enhanced premium tax credits, $26 billion go to insurance companies,” Cassidy told reporters Monday. “If we put it into a flexible spending account, 100 percent is going to the person who’s making a decision of where to spend their dollars.”

Cassidy added that he’s spoken to Democrats about the idea who “support it” and “want to know more.”

A challenge for Democrats in the coming weeks will be to train Republicans’ focus on the task of finding a compromise around the ACA credits, with the clock ticking to reach a deal.

“We have to write a version that is good for our values that helps people, but also is designed to get some Republican votes,” said Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, who was among the eight members of the Senate Democratic Caucus who voted to reopen the government Monday evening.

But even if Senate Democrats can cobble together a deal that attracts enough votes in their chamber, Speaker Mike Johnson remains non-commital about putting an Obamacare bill on the floor in the House.

Some Congressional Republicans who say they are committed to drafting an extension of the ACA subsidies are advocating for conservative modifications, including lowering the income cap that determines eligibility and restricting the subsidies from covering abortions. An income limit could get bipartisan buy-in, but abortion restrictions are likely a nonstarter for most Democrats.

Some House Republicans who see political peril in letting the subsidies lapse say privately that there’s enough support on their side of the aisle to help Democrats force a vote on the subsidies through a so-called discharge petition. But whether Republicans would actually forge ahead in bucking House leadership remains to be seen.

“I know that there are Republicans who want to fix this, but there’s no resolve, as far as I can tell, to take this up in the House if we’re able to pass it in the Senate,” said Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), who voted against the bill to reopen the government Monday night. “And that’s why I couldn’t agree to that package.”

Jennifer Scholtes and Jordain Carney contributed to this report.

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Congress

How Mike Johnson is scrambling to keep the shutdown short

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Speaker Mike Johnson is planning to meet with Rules Committee Republicans shortly before the panel convenes this afternoon to take up a massive shutdown-ending funding package, according to three people granted anonymity to discuss the private plans.

The meeting is expected to include discussion of how to handle conservative hard-liners’ demands to attach a partisan elections bill to the $1.2 trillion spending package.

But any change to the bill could add days more to the three-day partial government shutdown that Johnson is hoping to end Tuesday with House approval of the Senate-passed legislation that combines five full-year funding bills with a two-week extension of Homeland Security spending.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) is vowing to block any move to tee up the Senate-approved package for a final vote unless Johnson moves to attach the elections bill, known as the SAVE Act. With a razor-thin majority, Johnson can afford no more than one Republican defection on a party-line vote.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise told reporters Monday that GOP leaders haven’t made any final decisions on how to handle the SAVE Act but Trump emphasized in a recent Oval Office meeting that he wanted the funding legislation quickly passed.

“The president obviously really wants this,” he said.

The SAVE Act, which passed the House with scant Democratic support last year, would require citizenship documentation to register to vote and several cut back on mail voting. A new version of the bill would also require photo ID to vote.

Tacking it on to the funding package would essentially guarantee that the government shutdown Johnson and Trump are desperately trying to end as quickly as possible would continue for days — or longer. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer warned Monday that the SAVE Act was “dead on arrival” in the other chamber, with Democrats arguing it creates unnecessary barriers to voting.

“If House Republicans add the SAVE Act to the bipartisan appropriations package it will lead to another prolonged Trump government shutdown,” Schumer said.

Luna said in an interview Monday that her position has not changed as Johnson faces a growing pressure campaign from both his own members and an army of hard-right online influencers pressing for the election bill’s inclusion.

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Congress

Capitol agenda: Mike Johnson’s shutdown gamble

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House GOP leaders face an uphill battle to pass the revamped government funding package from the Senate, potentially dragging out the shutdown.

Speaker Mike Johnson hopes to pass the five full-year funding bills and the two-week DHS stopgap on Tuesday relying only on Republicans, after Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told him he wouldn’t help secure the Democrats needed to expedite the legislation. GOP leaders will have to quell an internal Republican revolt before they get there.

Here’s how things are shaping up ahead of Tuesday:

— Democrats divided, Republicans seek unity: Most House Democrats who spoke during a private caucus call Sunday evening were against the package, which was negotiated by Senate Democrats and the White House. House Homeland Security ranking member Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) was among the Democrats urging members to oppose it in a Dear Colleague email Sunday night.

But some senior Democrats on the call said they supported the legislation, including Reps. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, Jim Clyburn of South Carolina and New Democrat Coalition Chair Brad Schneider of Illinois, according to three people granted anonymity to discuss the conversation. The disconnect between leadership and other senior members is triggering some hand-wringing among frontline Democrats about what to do next.

Even though some Democrats are signaling they’d vote for the package in the end, it’s not clear whether Johnson can get past the procedural step of adopting a rule with GOP support still uncertain and Democrats unlikely to bail him out.

GOP leaders and White House officials are trying to convince key hard-liners to get on board.

Reps. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) and Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) are among the Republicans who want to attach legislation aimed at preventing noncitizens from voting in elections. Some ultra-conservatives oppose the Senate agreement overall and would prefer a Homeland stopgap that lasts six weeks or longer.

Luna said Sunday night that “these appropriations bills will FAIL” if the election citizenship legislation isn’t included.

— Bigger DHS deal looks tougher: Key lawmakers continue to raise red flags about striking a deal on a full-year DHS funding bill by the time the two-week CR expires.

Johnson on Sunday panned Democrats’ demands to bar federal immigration enforcement officers from wearing masks and to require them to wear identification. He also signaled unwillingness to negotiate on tightening requirements for judicial warrants for immigration operations. Jeffries is insisting that an agreement on judicial warrants is “a condition of moving forward.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune doesn’t believe Congress can pass a Homeland Security deal in two weeks, telling reporters late last week that “a two-week CR probably means there’s going to be another two-week CR and then maybe another two-week CR after that.”

“I just think it’s going to be really, really hard to get anything done and then actually execute on the procedures and process we have in the Senate, even if there’s an agreement,” he said.

What else we’re watching:   

— Johnson to swear in new Dem: Johnson plans to swear in Houston Democrat Christian Menefee before votes Monday night, pending final certification of his special runoff victory to serve out the rest of the late Rep. Sylvester Turner’s term. Once Menefee joins the House, Johnson will have a single-vote buffer with 218 Republicans and 214 Democrats.

Jordain Carney, Meredith Lee Hill, Mia McCarthy and Nicholas Wu contributed to this report.

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Congress

Mike Johnson says House can end government shutdown ‘by Tuesday’

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House Speaker Mike Johnson said he is confident Congress can end the partial government shutdown “by Tuesday” despite steep opposition from Democrats and turmoil within the GOP conference.

Johnson is under pressure to unite his caucus, with lawmakers raising concerns about funding for the Department of Homeland Security as the Trump administration faces scrutiny over its nationwide immigration crackdown that has at times turned violent.

House Republicans are hoping to take up the $1.2 trillion funding package passed by the Senate on Tuesday following a House Rules Committee meeting Monday. The partial shutdown began early Saturday.

GOP leadership in the House originally hoped to pass the bill under suspension of the rules, an expedited process that requires a two-thirds-majority vote, but Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told Johnson on Saturday that Democrats would not help Republicans acquire the necessary support for the spending bill.

“I’m confident that we’ll do it at least by Tuesday,” Johnson said in a Sunday interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “We have a logistical challenge of getting everyone in town, and because of the conversation I had with Hakeem Jeffries, I know that we’ve got to pass a rule and probably do this mostly on our own. I think that’s very unfortunate.”

The Senate voted Friday to pass a compromise spending package after Senate Democrats struck a deal with President Donald Trump to extend DHS funding for two weeks. The move bought Congress more time to work out a compromise on reforms for Immigration and Customs Enforcement after federal officers fatally shot two people in Minnesota earlier this month.

Speaking to host Kristen Welker on “Meet the Press,” Johnson acknowledged that “there’s been tragedies in Minnesota” — but he also blamed Democrats in the state for “inciting violence,” even as the Trump administration attempts to tamp down pressures in the state.

Johnson praised Trump’s decision to send White House border czar Tom Homan to Minneapolis, a step widely seen as a deescalation from the aggressive tactics favored by Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino.

“[Trump] was right to deputize him over that situation,” he said of Homan on NBC. “He has 40 years of experience in Border Patrol and these issues. So I think that this is going to happen, but we need good faith on both sides. Some of these conditions and requests that they’ve made are obviously reasonable and should happen. But others are going to require a lot more negotiation.”

Johnson pushed back in particular on Democratic calls to bar federal immigration enforcement officers from wearing masks and require them to wear identification, telling Fox’s Shannon Bream: “Those two things are conditions that would create further danger.”

He also signaled an unwillingness to negotiate on Democratic demands to tighten requirements for judicial warrants for immigration operations.

Still, House Democrats remained opposed to passing the funding package as is, with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) saying Sunday: “I’m not just a no. I’m a firm no.”

“I just don’t see how in good conscience Democrats can vote for continuing ICE funding when they’re killing American citizens, when there’s no provision to repeal the tripling of the budget,” Khanna said in a Sunday interview with Welker on NBC. “I hope my colleagues will say no.”

Jeffries also signaled Sunday that a wide gap remains between his conference and House Republicans, telling ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that the House must reach an agreement on judicial warrants “as a condition of moving forward.”

“The one thing that we’ve said publicly is that we need a robust path toward dramatic reform,” Jeffries said on ABC’s “This Week.” “The administration can’t just talk the talk, they need to walk the walk. That should begin today. Not in two weeks, today.”

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