Government judgment: health care remains an insoluble problem at Congress

Washington (AP) – To hear the party leaders speak, the seventh day of the government closed very much like the first. Democrats are looking for negotiations on the expiration of health care subsidies while Republicans say they will not discuss it, or any other policy, until the government will reopen.

The two parties also offer very different visions of the affordable care law and how to manage the Assistance to enlarged premiums This will soon expire for millions of people – Democrats want prolonged aid, while Republicans insist that the subsidized health system is broken and must be reduced.

“The position of the Democrats has not changed,” said Senate Democrat, Chuck Schumer. “We want the same thing as a majority, overwhelming majority, of the Americans, who is to end this judgment and stop the health care crisis which will send pointing bonuses for tens of millions of people.”

House speaker Mike JohnsonR-La., met the Republicans of the Senate on Tuesday and said that the party was “100% united”, which said it was “a good place where”.

It is not known how the dead end will end, even if hundreds of thousands of federal workers are not remunerated and many government services are slowed or suspended. Democrats believe The public is on their side As they are fighting to maintain subsidies in the era of the covid, but health care is also one of the most insoluble problems in congress – and a real compromise is unlikely to be easy or quick.

There are Republicans at Congress who wish to extend aid because millions of people who receive their insurance via the ACA markets are ready to receive opinions that their premiums will increase at the start of the year. But many GOP legislators are strongly opposed to any extension – and see the debate as a new opportunity to try to reform the program.

“If the Republicans govern by a survey and fail to grasp this moment, they will have it,” wrote the representative of Texas Chip Roy, a republican, in a letter published in the Wall Street Journal during the weekend. He encouraged senators not to go “wobbly” on the issue.

“The template is in place, the pandemic is over and my colleagues should not clig eyes in another direction,” wrote Roy.

A long history of health care fights

The Republicans fought against the Act respecting affordable care, the law on health care of former President Barack Obama, since his promulgation 15 years ago. But when they were able to keep it away, they have not able to modify it considerably inasmuch as Record 24 million people are now registered in insurance coverage through the ACA, largely because billions of dollars in grants have made the plans more affordable for many people.

Now, some of them see the fight of Democrats as their chance of reviewing the question – to put the Republican leaders of the Congress and President Donald Trump in a complicated position.

“I am happy to work with Democrats on their failed health policies, or anything else, but they must first allow our government to reopen,” wrote Trump on social networks on Monday evening, Reproduce previous comments Saying that there have been ongoing negotiations with the Democrats.

Leader of the majority of the Senate John ThuneRS.D., told journalists on Monday that there may be a way to follow “on the ACA subsidies, but underlined:” I think that would be largely limited to the place where the White House landed on this subject. “”

Some GOP senators argue, however, that the only way to follow is to revise the law. “The whole problem with all of this is Obamacare,” said Florida senator Rick Scott.

Johnson said there had been ongoing discussions on “fairly dramatic changes” of the law that Congress could consider once the government will reopen.

Bipartisian talks are faced with difficulties

The Senate has now rejected a bill sentenced to the House to extend the government’s financing until mid-November in five times, the Democrats refusing the Republicans votes to adopt it unless they win concessions on health care.

With leaders in disagreement, some basic senators in the two parties were in private talks to try to find a way to get out of the closure. The Republican Senator Mike Rounds of the southern Dakota suggested extending the subsidies for a year, then eliminating them. The president of the Senate credit committee, Susan Collins, R-Maine, suggested advancing a group of bipartite expenditure invoices which are pending, then making a commitment to discuss the issue of health care.

But many Democrats say that a commitment is not good enough, and the Republicans say they need deeper reforms – leaving the talks and the US government, to stop.

Maine Senator Angus King, an independent who caucates democrats, voted with the Republicans to keep the government open. But he said on Monday that he could pass his vote to “no” if the Republicans “do not offer real solid evidence that they will help us in this crisis” on health care.

Republican senator Markwayne Mullin from Oklahoma said his party “did not move”, however.

“First and foremost, before they can talk about anything, they have to reopen the government,” said Mullin.

Some Republicans insist on health care action

However, some Republicans say they are ready to extend subsidies – even if they do not like them – because it becomes clear that their voters will be faced with the increase in costs.

“I am ready to consider various reforms, but I think we have to do something,” said Republican senator Josh Hawley of Missouri. He said the congress should tackle the question “as soon as possible” before the start of the registration opened on November 1.

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-GA., Said that she was “not a fan” of Obamacare but said that she could vote to extend it.

“I am going to go against everyone on this issue, because when tax credits expire this year, my insurance premiums for adult children for 2026 will double, as well as all the wonderful families and the people who work hard in my district,” she published social media on Monday evening.

High clips for federal workers

With the two parties that dig, the closure could last a certain time, leaving the federal workers without their regular pay checks. And the White House now suggests that Trump can block the salary if the government reopens.

Trump signed a law in 2019 which guarantees a salary for federal workers during all government financing times. But a white house memo with the justification for No Back Pay is being studied.

Johnson told journalists on Tuesday that he did not know the details of the note, but “if it is true, it should increase the emergency and the need that Democrats do the right thing here.”

The Democrats pushed the justification of the White House. “Federal workers, including workers on leave, are entitled to their back wages following a closure,” said Washington senator Patty Murray, the best democrat of the Senate credits committee.

The White House also said on Tuesday that it would use pricing income to strengthen the special additional nutrition program for Women, infants and childrenfacing funding shortages due to the closure.

Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in an article on X that Trump had “identified a creative solution to transfer resources” from prices that the administration imposed on American trading partners. It has not provided details on how these funding transfers could work.

___

The writers of the Associated Press Matt Brown, Stephen Groves, Will Weissert and Joey Cappelletti contributed to this report.