House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) signaled Monday that Democrats will not support a short-term spending deal to keep the government open.
Jeffries warned that Democrats will only budge if Republicans agree to extend Obamacare subsidies that were temporarily expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The federal government is set to enter a partial shutdown at midnight on Wednesday if lawmakers do not reach an agreement.
A GOP-backed continuing resolution (CR), a straightforward measure to extend current funding levels through November 21, passed the House earlier this month.
All but one Democrat voted against it.
Jeffries blasted the plan as “partisan” and demanded Republicans make concessions on healthcare before Democrats would support keeping the government open.
“No one can trust their word on healthcare. Are you kidding me?” Jeffries said at a press conference.
“These people have been trying to repeal and displace people off the Affordable Care Act since 2010. That’s 15 years.
“And on behalf of the American people, we’re supposed to simply take their word that they’re willing to negotiate?
“The American people know that would be an unreasonable thing for us to do.”
Jeffries confirmed Democrats’ alternate proposal would not just extend the subsidies but make them permanent.
Showdown With Trump
The comments came just hours before Jeffries, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) were scheduled to meet with President Donald Trump to hammer out a deal.
Republicans argue that the current funding levels are the same as those set under Joe Biden, making the short-term extension a simple step to avoid a shutdown.
Johnson pushed back on Democrats’ demands during an interview on Sunday.
“We passed a continuing resolution, a simple, very clean, 24-page continuing resolution to keep the government open for seven more weeks, so the appropriators can finish that process,” Johnson said.
“And [Schumer] said, ‘No. Instead, I want to add $1.5 trillion in new spending to a seven-week stopgap bill… we want to reinstate free healthcare to illegal aliens paid for by U.S. taxpayer dollars. We want to claw back the $50 billion that we passed, Republicans passed, in our big, beautiful bill, the Working Families Tax Cuts, to provide for rural hospitals and healthcare, and a laundry list of other partisan priorities.’
“He knows it’s a nonstarter.”
Democrats Double Down
Jeffries insisted that he and Schumer were in “lock-step” and would not budge without written guarantees on Obamacare subsidies.
“We are ready, we are willing, we are able to find a bipartisan path forward and reach a spending agreement that actually keeps the government open, but meets the needs of the American people in terms of their health, their safety, and their economic well-being related to lowering the high cost of living, as opposed to allowing tens of millions of Americans to experience dramatically increased health care costs,” Jeffries told reporters.
“What we will not do is support a partisan Republican spending bill that continues to gut the healthcare of the American people.”
The minority leader then attempted to preemptively blame Republicans if the government does shut down.
“Republicans control the House and the Senate, and there’s a Republican president,” Jeffries said.
“If the government shuts down, it’s because Republicans want to shut the government down.”
Republicans Call Out The Playbook
Thune, appearing on NBC’s Meet the Press, said Democrats were holding the government hostage for partisan gain.
“We can have that conversation, but before we do, release the hostage,” Thune said.
“Set the American people free, keep the government open, and then let’s have a conversation about those premium tax credits.
“I’m certainly open to that. I think we all are.
Thune added that the program is “fraught with waste, fraud, and abuse.”
With Democrats demanding new spending in exchange for keeping the lights on, Republicans are pointing to the showdown as proof that the left’s priorities remain unchanged: more subsidies, more spending, and more government control.
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