Congress

Obamacare subsidy negotiations are heating up. But trust is breaking down.

Published

10 months ago

November 7, 2025

A deal to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies is looking more uncertain as Senate Republicans push to make headway Friday on ending the longest-ever government shutdown.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune has promised Democrats a floor vote to prevent the enhanced subsidies from expiring at the end of the year. But Senate Democrats are splintered over how much stock to put into Thune’s commitment, given the South Dakota Republican has also said he cannot guarantee an outcome of any such vote.

Some lawmakers argue they should hold out for a concrete deal on an extension before voting to reopen the government. Others believe they could make real progress on a bipartisan framework after the government reopens, building on negotiations this fall.

Democrats are now wrestling with their options as Thune plans to force a vote Friday afternoon that would tee up consideration of a new government funding package to allow federal operations to resume. This vote is likely to fail but it presents an opportunity for some Democrats to break rank as the shutdown pain grows more severe.

At stake is a policy that Democrats argue will help millions of Americans who are set to get hit by skyrocketing premiums in 2026. It’s also putting to the test Democrats’ trust that a massively complex and politically loaded issue can be solved through old-fashioned bipartisan negotiations, with many Democrats skeptical that Republicans will ever follow through on the issue once the shutdown ends.

“This is the old days of making sure you write it into black letter law. That’s what we do when we write bills. We haven’t seen that yet,” Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), whose panel has jurisdiction over the ACA premium tax credits, told reporters Thursday.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) has also been urging his colleagues to not vote to reopen the government without clear signs the subsidies would be extended, arguing that the party’s victories in elections across the country earlier this week sent a signal that voters want Democrats to keep up the fight.

“I have obviously expressed my reservations about agreeing to only a vote without a certainty of outcome,” said Murphy in an interview Thursday. “I don’t think that we should proceed without knowing that these health care premiums are not going to go up by 200 percent.”

“We’ve been talking all day today inside the caucus about what a path forward is, whether it’s negotiations that some of our colleagues have been having, or is it a different path?” Murphy added.

Those negotiations are largely being spearheaded by Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Angus King (I-Maine) and Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), opposite rank-and-file Senate Republicans. According to two people granted anonymity to share details of ongoing conversations, Senate Democratic negotiators have been exchanging details of proposals and white papers with their Republican counterparts.

One person pointed to these discussions as evidence of “willingness from Senate Republicans to come to the table if the government is reopened,” though the other person noted that the exchange of white paper is not necessarily a strong signal of progress being made.

A third person added that this paper-trading was paused a couple weeks ago, anyway, when Republican leaders made it known they wouldn’t seriously negotiate the terms of a framework until after the government reopens.

“We’ve made it very clear that you open up government, and then we can work on a solution that will actually stand the test of time — including one that our president could perhaps consider supporting and convincing the House to support but nothing is going to happen until we open up government,” said Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.).

Internal differences on the policy are not Democrats’ only problem. Even if Democrats get a vote on an extension of the Obamacare subsidies in the Senate, House Speaker Mike Johnson won’t commit to putting such a bill on the House floor, saying Thursday morning that he’s not “promising anybody anything.” Johnson is facing heavy resistance from his right flank on the issue, with members of the House Freedom Caucus promising to revolt if the subsidies are extended.

Democrats also have to figure out which modifications to the credits they are willing to accept. Some proposals pushed by Republicans, like those that would put an income cap on the credits, appear palatable, while other ideas like restricting the subsidies from plans that cover abortion promise to be non-starters.

“I would call that exceedingly frustrating. There’s several unanswered questions, and that’s one of them,” said Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), when asked about Johnson’s refusal to commit to a vote, in an interview Thursday. “I understand the position that the speaker’s in politically, but that’s why President [Donald] Trump could get all this done. Because he could, if he got involved and pushed a negotiation, he could give Speaker Johnson the cover he needs to give it a vote in the House.”

The White House has, however, given congressional Republicans little to work with. Trump has so far been silent on the issue publicly, while people inside his administration are reportedly divided on whether to let the subsidies expire or extend them for the purposes of political preservation in next year’s midterms.

Besides exhorting Trump to get involved, some freshmen senators who won their seats after serving in the House are hoping that their relationships with their old GOP colleagues could spur momentum for a bipartisan proposal. Democratic Sens. Andy Kim of New Jersey and Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware invited GOP Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey to huddle Friday morning to see if they can find a way forward.

One possible idea being broached by some Senate Democrats includes having House counterparts pursue a discharge petition, a procedural maneuver allowing rank-and-file members to force a vote on legislation without the blessing of leadership. In this case, though, it’s not clear whether enough Republicans would sign onto a bill to extend the subsidies to clear the necessary 218-signature threshold to get the measure onto the floor.

“A number of us that have come out of the House recently and have relationships in the House want to have a dialogue with our House Republican counterparts to see whether there’s a way to work forward to extend the Affordable Care tax credits and find our way out of this both health crisis and government shutdown,” said Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), one of the first-term lawmakers engaged in talks.

As for Johnson refusing to commit to a vote, Schiff said, “He’ll do whatever Donald Trump tells him to do.”

Jordain Carney and Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.

Congress

Convention puts GOP’s reality on display: Midterm policy agenda is skimpy

Published

22 hours ago

September 12, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

DALLAS — Republicans used their midterm convention this week to ask voters to preserve their congressional majorities and let them “finish the job.”

But with few consensus legislative goals, it’s far from clear what job they want to finish.

The two-day convention here centered on painting Democrats as an increasingly socialist party that American voters cannot trust with power while highlighting the GOP’s one major victory on Capitol Hill under President Donald Trump’s second term: the year-old tax-cut package known as the “big, beautiful bill.”

In contrast, there was little talk from the podium of what Republicans might seek to pass with a continued trifecta, and members interviewed on the sidelines shared differing visions of what specific legislation the GOP should pursue in the last two years of Trump’s presidency.

The one concrete proposal on offer — Trump’s promise Wednesday of a $5,000 “dividend” for every American adult — blindsided GOP congressional leaders and generated immediate internal dissension.

Asked about his party’s legislative plans, Rep. Chuck Fleischmann of Tennessee said Republicans would “certainly continue the agenda that we’ve done and that we fulfill to the American people.”

“Accentuate all the positives, minimize all the negatives,” said Rep. Dan Meuser of Pennsylvania, responding to the same question. He added he would like to see “more domestic energy production” and tackling fraud in government programs.

Several others said they want to build on last year’s GOP megabill, pursuing more tax cuts and, echoing Meuser, eliminating wasteful spending in government. Some said they hoped to pursue new health care and immigration policies.

“We’ll continue to work with President Trump, making sure the border stays secure,” Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan of Ohio said in an interview. “I think we can do more on the tax code, dealing with keeping taxes low for families. Certainly … things cost too much for families. We understand it now.”

Specifics, however, were scarce.

Fleischmann said Republicans have “a good roadmap in place,” but when pressed on what that roadmap entails, he resorted to broad strokes — “to make sure that America stays strong, that defense gets funded, that we make sure that we fulfill our proper domestic obligations.”

Rather than rally around Trump’s promise of $5,000 checks if Republicans are returned to power in Congress, many GOP members — caught by surprise — said they needed more information about the proposal or simply declined to comment. Once mentioned by the president, the proposal was barely mentioned again on the convention stage.

Trump said in a CBS News interview Thursday that he believed he might not need Congress to authorize the dividend checks — a claim some Republicans quickly pushed back on.

The reality is, the narrow House and Senate majorities the GOP now holds have been barely capable of legislating as it is. And while leaders in both chambers play up the possibility of expanding those majorities in November, that would require overcoming historical precedent and many Republicans’ private expectations they will be lucky to hold on to any majority at all.

Both chambers return Monday for what could be a brief pre-election session, with little expectation that serious legislating will get done. House Republicans have sent several partisan bills to the Senate, but they are being blocked by Democratic filibusters. Plans for a new budget reconciliation bill that could skirt Democratic opposition has stalled, meanwhile, due to internal GOP divides.

The lack of action in the Senate has fueled anger from Trump and his loyalists in Congress and in the GOP voter base — much of it trained on Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who has repeatedly said he simply does not have the votes to eliminate the filibuster and enact the stalled bills.

That has not appeased angry conservatives — Thune was booed at the convention Wednesday — and a continued GOP trifecta would almost certainly continue to be marked by interchamber tensions — even with turnover in the party ranks.

“Given the current dynamic, we have got to have a serious come-to-Jesus conversation with Majority Leader Thune,” Rep. Chip Roy of Texas said at the convention, demanding the Senate “tweak the filibuster rules” and “call the question” on key bills.

Even on an issue where there is general agreement among Republicans that something should be done — such as immigration — internal disagreements have kept the party from acting.

Jordan, for instance, said he would like to codify tough border security policies backed by Trump. But some more moderate Republicans are hoping for a more comprehensive bill that also addresses legal immigration programs, such as those allowing for guest agricultural workers and high-skilled labor.

Meuser is among those wanting a broader bill — one, he said, that is “not amnesty, but a truly comprehensive, smart plan for illegal immigration.”

Speaker Mike Johnson did not mention immigration legislation or any other specific agenda items in his remarks to the convention Thursday. He instead outlined the House’s achievements under Trump and said voters need to stay the course.

“We’ve succeeded in so many ways, but it takes more than just 20 months to fix the total disaster that we were handed and to turn the ship of state around,” he said. “We know the job isn’t finished yet, but we are all in this together.”

Echoing many other convention speakers, Johnson focused on the threats posed by Democrats: “The alternative is to turn the reins over right now to the radical Marxists who are planning to dramatically grow the government, raise your taxes, drive costs through the roof, and rob you of your freedom.”

But some worried that message might not be sufficient — especially after Democrats’ 2024 message focused largely on preventing another Trump presidency rather than pointing to affirmative plans to tackle rising prices and other key voter concerns.

Roy is not on the ballot this fall after losing a primary for Texas attorney general, but he is helping to campaign for other Republicans. He, too, said his message is that GOP candidates “need to be able to finish the job” and cited an “enormous amount of good work” — listing as examples the Laken Riley Act, a small-bore immigration bill that passed early in Trump’s second term, and federal spending cuts embedded in the megabill.

As for the rest of the GOP messaging, Roy added, “Right now, I would argue we’re focused a little bit too much on how crazy they are instead of talking about all the great stuff we’ve done.”

Congress

House sets vote on Russia sanctions bill

Published

2 days ago

September 11, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

House lawmakers are set to vote on the sweeping Russia sanctions bill that senators overwhelmingly voted to approve in August, but now faces a tough test in the House where Democrats fear the bill will give President Donald Trump too much tariff power.

The Senate-passed and White House-backed measure is finally getting consideration from the House, after GOP leaders omitted it from their agenda when lawmakers returned from August recess. Many House Democrats — including Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries — have voiced opposition for fear that it would give Trump expansive and risky new tariff authorities.

House GOP enthusiasm for the measure has also been tepid, after a boost following the sudden death of its champion, Sen. Lindsey Graham, wore off.

The House Rules Committee scheduled a meeting to consider the bill Monday afternoon.

Advocates of the legislation argue the bill would give Trump the tools he needs to pressure Russian leader Vladimir Putin to end the war on Ukraine. The bill would issue mandatory sanctions on Russian leadership and its energy sector — as well as collaborators in Moscow’s defense industry and so-called shadow fleet.

But it would also give Trump the ability to hit top buyers of Russian oil with 100% tariffs, a move that Democrats say is dangerous given the White House’s eagerness to slap tariffs on U.S. friends and foes alike.

“Donald Trump already has ample authority to impose sanctions on the companies, individuals, and vessels propping up a Russian war machine that continues its deadly attacks on Ukraine,” Reps. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) and Richard Neal (D-Mass.) wrote in a joint statement with Democratic Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia and Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) earlier this month. “Congress does not need to greenlight new tariff authority for the President to impose those sanctions on Russia today.”

Backers of the bill were quick to encourage its passage after the vote was announced on Friday.

“Great news that the House will vote on the much-needed Russia sanctions bill,” Senate Foreign Relations ranking member Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) wrote on social media. “Ukrainian civilians continue to be killed by Putin’s war machine, and this bill hits the Kremlin’s coffers hard. Now is the time to pass it and force Putin to the negotiating table.”

The measure passed in an 86-11 vote in the Senate in August.

Congress

House eyes Tuesday vote on bill to curb data center costs

Published

2 days ago

September 11, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

House GOP leaders have picked Tuesday as the day to vote on legislation intended to shield Americans from the potential costs associated with the data center boom, according to two people granted anonymity to share private scheduling plans.

The upcoming floor action comes after a healthy number of vulnerable Republicans signed onto the measure in recent days, a sign that fears about the issue’s political volatility ahead of the midterms are continuing to grow as voters complain about rising energy prices as a result of data center proliferation.

The bipartisan Ratepayer Protection Act, which aims to compel tech companies to pay for the infrastructure associated with data center development, passed unanimously out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee this summer. Senior Republicans, however, said last week they were still weighing whether to bring the bill to the floor before the House recesses until after the November elections.

The decision to proceed this coming week signals that pressure has been building on leaders to act, underscored by the at least five House GOP frontliners who have signed on as cosponsors since September 1: Reps. Bill Huizenga and Tom Barrett of Michigan, David Valadao of California, Jen Kiggans of Virginia and Mónica de la Cruz of Texas.

Valadao, in an interview a week before he signed on as a cosponsor, called such measures “fine” but balked at the idea House Democratic leaders were trying to politicize data centers right before an election.

“Obviously it has to be addressed — making sure that we’re protecting our natural resources like water in my district,” he said. “Obviously, with California and their regulatory process, they’ve made energy more expensive than anywhere else in the country. So those are major concerns that need to be addressed, and I think those pieces of legislation will make sense.”

But, he added, allowing Democrats “to turn this into a political issue, I would say, is pretty irresponsible.”

The total number of cosponsors on the bill, championed by Reps. Gabe Evans (R-Colo.) and Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), to 42 Democrats and Republicans combined.

The Tuesday vote will take place under an expedited procedure that requires a two-thirds majority of those present and voting to secure passage.

Mia McCarthy and Amelia Davidson contributed to this report.