Senate Democrats unveiled their counterproposal to Republicans’ plan to reopen the government Friday, offering a one-year extension of expiring Obamacare credits and calling on Republicans to “just say yes.”
According to Fox News, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced the plan on the Senate floor with members of the Democratic caucus standing behind him — a display of unity following their Election Night sweep earlier in the week.
After 14 failed votes on the House-passed continuing resolution (CR), Schumer said, “It’s clear we need to try something different.” He proposed attaching a one-year extension of the Obamacare subsidies to the bill and forming a bipartisan committee to negotiate the program’s future once the government reopens.
“Democrats are ready to clear the way to quickly pass a government funding bill that includes healthcare affordability,” Schumer said. “Leader Thune just needs to add a clean, one-year extension of the [Obamacare] tax credits to the CR so that we can immediately address rising health care costs. That’s not a negotiation. It’s an extension of current law, something we do all the time around here.”
“Now the ball is in the Republicans’ court,” he continued. “We need Republicans to just say ‘yes.’”
It remains unclear whether Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and Republicans will accept the offer. The GOP conference planned to meet Friday afternoon to discuss their response.
Thune had initially intended to bring the House-passed plan up for another vote and amend it to include three spending bills in a package known as a minibus. But that plan was shelved Friday morning after he said the “wheels came off” ongoing bipartisan talks with Senate Democrats.
The developments also came after Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., attempted to fast-track his bill to ensure federal workers and the military continue to be paid during shutdowns. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., blocked the bill, saying it still gave President Donald Trump too much authority to decide “which federal employees are paid and when.”
That move drew a sharp response from Thune. “In other words, we’re going to keep federal employees hostage,” he said. “It’s about leverage isn’t it, that’s what ya’ll have been saying.”
