Congress
House centrists attempt quiet rescue of Obamacare subsidy talks
House centrists are discussing the outlines of a possible compromise to extend Affordable Care Act insurance subsidies in hopes of jump-starting stalled talks over the soon-to-expire tax credits that have also emerged as a key fault line in the brewing government shutdown battle.
The bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus has privately broached whether an income cap should be imposed on who can benefit from the subsidies. Several Republicans in the group have floated a $200,000 cap, according to three people granted anonymity to describe the talks.
More than 20 million Americans currently benefit from the enhanced subsidies, which were enacted by Democrats under President Joe Biden in 2021. Some Republicans are now open to extending them, though many are pushing for new curbs to bring down the cost. The income cap is a bare minimum demand for many Republicans.
Democrats, meanwhile, are pushing for a permanent extension as part of government funding talks ahead of the Sept. 30 shutdown deadline. Some centrist Democrats have been willing to discuss concessions, though they are wary of publicly supporting any new limitations at this point.
After a pair of dueling partisan funding bills failed in the Senate last week, members of the Problem Solvers’ executive board discussed Monday how a potential compromise on the insurance subsidies could fit into a bipartisan agreement to address a government shutdown, according to two other people with direct knowledge of the meeting.
Top Republican leaders have ruled out dealing with the ACA subsidies as part of any deal to avert an Oct. 1 shutdown, saying it’s an issue to deal with in November or December.
But Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), co-chair of the Problem Solvers Caucus, pushed back on that timeline in an interview last week.“That can’t happen,” Fitzpatrick said. “We’re up against a real deadline. The rates are going to kick in probably Nov. 1. So we have October to get it done.”
The Problem Solvers group has yet to settle on any restrictions beyond a clean one-year extension bill that is led by Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-Va.) and Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.) and backed by several other members of the caucus.
Beyond the income cap, some more conservative House Republicans have floated other restrictions — such as grandfathering in current beneficiaries but cutting off access for new enrollees, or forcing some enrollees to pay a minimum out-of-pocket premium — according to three other people granted anonymity to describe the conversations. Another section of GOP hardliners want to completely axe the subsidies, providing another wrinkle for GOP leaders to work through as centrists raise concerns about the fallout in their districts.
Fitzpatrick — a member of the Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over the subsidies — confirmed that the income cap and other reforms have come up in private talks with centrist House lawmakers over an extension.House Democrats, meanwhile, generally want a longer extension with fewer limitations on enrollees. Even Democrats in the Problem Solvers Caucus caution they haven’t agreed to anything or seriously discussed the details of an income cap. Any final agreement, they note, will have to be negotiated and blessed by top congressional leaders.
If an extension deal can’t be struck quickly around the shutdown standoff, Fitzpatrick and other worried Republicans are planning to push for passage of a standalone bill in October before insurers start to lock in pricing for 2026.
“A lot of our folks back home are talking about this,” he added. “It’s a big, big deal.”
Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi wants answers from the Justice Department about internal communications regarding a possible pardon for Jeffrey Epstein’s co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell.
In a letter sent Wednesday to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, the Illinois Democrat pointed to a recent POLITICO story where Maxwell’s attorney, David Oscar Markus, said there was “a good chance and for good reason that [Maxwell] would get a pardon” from President Donald Trump.
Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year sentence for her role in the sex trafficking scheme. The Supreme Court recently denied a bid to review her case, leaving presidential clemency the only obvious reprieve that could be available to her. Trump has not ruled out granting her clemency.
As Blue Light News reported earlier this month, Markus said in an extensive interview he had reached out to Blanche last year to set up a meeting for his client to answer questions about the Epstein case. They met in Tallahassee for a two-day meeting in July, and Maxwell was moved to a minimum security prison camp in Texas shortly afterward. Blanche and Markus have both maintained that she was transferred because she was unsafe at her former facility.
“It is unacceptable that DOJ would be engaging at all with such an outrageous request,” Krishnamoorthi wrote to Blanche, who has known Markus for years.
Krishnamoorthi asked Blanche to promise he would not engage with the convicted sex offender around a pardon and requested to view communications with Maxwell or Markus related to a pardon.
DOJ did not immediately return a request for comment.
Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.) has died at the age of 80, according to Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), who disclosed his death at a committee hearing on Wednesday.
First elected to the state Assembly in Georgia in 1974, Scott’s career in politics spanned decades. The 12-term lawmaker became the first Black chair of the House’s powerful Agriculture Committee when he was tapped to lead the panel in 2020.
Scott faced criticism for seeking reelection in 2024 even as declining health imperiled his ability to negotiate a $1.5 trillion farm bill. Scott was also seeking reelection to his Atlanta-area district later this year.
Senate Democrats want to use a marathon voting session this week to hammer Republicans on cost-of-living issues.
As part of the amendment free-for-all known as “vote-a-rama,” Democrats can force a vote on any proposal they want before the Senate votes on the GOP’s budget blueprint for an immigration enforcement bill. They are vowing to try to show a “contrast” that hits at the heart of their midterms message.
“Republicans want to shell out billions of dollars to Donald Trump’s private army without any common sense restraints or reforms. Democrats want to put money in people’s pockets by lowering their costs,” Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters Wednesday.
“We’re going to keep at it, and keep at it, and keep at it,” Schumer added.
The Senate could move as soon as Wednesday to kick off the hourslong voting marathon. Republicans have to adopt the budget resolution before they can take up a subsequent bill they expect will provide roughly $70 billion for immigration enforcement.
Republicans decided to go it alone on funding for ICE, Border Patrol and other agencies after they were unable to get a deal with Democrats to impose new restrictions on the funding in the wake of federal agents fatally shooting two people in Minneapolis in January.
Few, if any, of the Democratic amendments are likely to be adopted. But they could provide fuel for campaign season attacks as Republicans unite to keep their party-line funding plan intact.
Schumer declined to offer specifics on his caucus’ amendments, but he said they will relate to reducing costs on issues like housing, health care, food costs and child care. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), the No. 3 Senate Democrat, indicated that Democrats will force amendment votes related to local law enforcement funding, lapsed Obamacare subsidies and housing costs.
“Those are the choices we are going to present to them over these next few days,” she added.
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