Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said he believes public pressure will mount on Republicans in the coming days to extend health insurance subsidies that are the heart of the shutdown fight.
Most of the federal government remains shut down after Senate Republicans and Democrats again failed to pass a spending bill Monday that would reopen the government. Democrats, who have put forward their own spending resolution, remain steadfast that Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies used by more than 20 million people to afford monthly health premiums should be extended.
With the credits expiring at the end of the year and ACA open enrollment beginning Nov. 1, many buying insurance through their state’s marketplace are likely to see their monthly costs soar.
In an interview with Morning Edition, Jeffries said he believes “it will become readily apparent to people throughout America why it is so important for Congress to act to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits.”
Some Republicans have proposed a one-year extension of the ACA subsidies, which Jeffries has opposed. In a separate interview with Morning Edition, GOP Rep. Mike Lawler of New York said Democrats knew the subsidies would expire and dared Jeffries to sign onto the one-year extension if he was “serious” about it.
In response, Jeffries said that “If billionaires can be provided tax breaks on a permanent basis in ways that will explode the deficit all across the country and result in people losing their health insurance … it seems to us that Republicans should come to the table to provide a greater degree of certainty as it relates to health care that’s being provided to working class Americans,” referring to President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Speaking to NPR’s Michel Martin, Jeffries discussed how the shutdown is playing out and why Democrats remain adamant on their position.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Interview highlights
Michel Martin: Last night, the Senate failed for the 11th time to pass a measure that would extend current funding until the end of the year, effectively reopen the government. Republicans insist they’ll negotiate on health care once the government reopens. Remind us again about why that position is unacceptable to the Democrats.
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries: Well, we’ve made clear that we want to reopen the government. We want to find a bipartisan path forward toward a spending agreement that actually makes life better for the American people. But we also need to decisively resolve the Republican health care crisis that is crushing people all across the country, particularly as it relates to the need to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits. Open enrollment starts on Nov. 1. That’s less than two weeks from now. And tens of millions of Americans are receiving notices as we speak, indicating that their health insurance premiums, co-pays and deductibles are about to skyrocket double, triple — or in some cases, quadruple — at levels that will be unaffordable, which is why these issues taken together need to be addressed at this moment without further delay.
Martin: So as you just pointed out, Nov. 1 is a crucial date because that’s when most states will start to send out notices spelling out the cost of coverage, without the subsidies, those huge price hikes that you just mentioned that you’re trying to protect buyers from, will have already happened. If we get to that point and there is still no deal, what then?
Jeffries: Well, the open enrollment period, which begins on Nov. 1, will last until the early to mid part of December. The pressure is going to continue to mount on the Congress to take decisive action during that period of time, as people all across America realize that things are about to get extremely costly in states like Georgia, Virginia and Maryland. We now have visibility into the fact that costs may increase on a monthly basis by approximately $2,000 per month. That means that health insurance premiums could actually increase to over $24,000 a year. That’s unaffordable. The average income of someone who receives an Affordable Care Act tax credit is around $63,000 a year. And so clearly, these type of premium increases for people to get access to a doctor when they need them are unsustainable. And so over the next few weeks, it will become readily apparent to people throughout America why it is so important for Congress to act to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits. And by the way, health insurance costs are going to increase for people who receive assistance through the tax credits on the Affordable Care Act, as well as people who receive their health insurance from their employer as well.
Editor’s note: About 90% of ACA premium tax credit recipients have annual incomes at or below $63,000, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
Martin: So yesterday you said that you’d oppose GOP legislation to pay military service members. That’s something that President Trump already says he’s going to do. And then this bill would also pay essential federal workers. You say you oppose this because you call it a political ploy. Notwithstanding the fact that you argue that this would give the president discretion to decide who would get paid and who wouldn’t get paid. And you feel that that’s not right. There still are a lot of workers in those groups who would face real hardship without pay. What do you say to them?
Jeffries: I support the military being paid. We, in fact, on the Democratic side of the House, have introduced legislation to ensure that that happens. In terms of the legislation that Sen. Ron Johnson [R-Wisc.] apparently was putting forward or may plan to put forward in the Senate, it gives President Trump wide discretion to decide who gets paid, who doesn’t get paid, what happens in terms of furloughed workers who apparently will not be addressed in this legislation. And he’s already threatened not to pay furloughed workers, even though that’s contrary to federal law that he himself signed in 2019. This has been a lawless administration from day one of this presidency and allowing them to have further discretion as to how they may proceed, particularly when they have targeted hard working federal civil servants from the very beginning of this term in extraordinary ways is not an appropriate step forward. It’s piecemeal, it’s not comprehensive. And we need to reopen the government in its entirety. And we’re ready to do that as Democrats. We just need partners on the other side of the aisle in terms of a willingness to proceed in good faith.
Transcript:
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
We’ve been speaking with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle since the government shutdown began 21 days ago. Today, we are joined by House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries. He represents a district in New York. Good morning, Leader. Thanks so much for joining us.
HAKEEM JEFFRIES: Good morning. Great to be on.
MARTIN: So last night, the Senate failed for the 11th time to pass a measure that would extend current funding until the end of the year, effectively reopen the government. Republicans insist they’ll negotiate on health care once the government reopens. Would you, as briefly as you can, remind us again about why that position is unacceptable to the Democrats?
JEFFRIES: Well, we’ve made clear that we want to reopen the government. We want to find a bipartisan path forward toward a spending agreement that actually makes life better for the American people. But we also need to decisively resolve the Republican health care crisis that is crushing people all across the country, particularly as it relates to the need to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits. Open enrollment starts on November 1. That’s less than two weeks from now. And tens of millions of Americans are receiving notices as we speak indicating that their health insurance premiums, copays and deductibles are about to skyrocket, double, triple or, in some cases, quadruple at levels that will be unaffordable, which is why these issues, taken together, need to be addressed at this moment without further delay.
MARTIN: So as you just pointed out, November 1 is a crucial date ’cause that’s when most states will start to send out notices spelling out the cost of coverage without the subsidies. Those huge price hikes that you just mentioned that you’re trying to protect buyers from will have already happened. If we get to that point and there is still no deal, what then?
JEFFRIES: Well, the open enrollment period, which begins on November 1, will last until the early to mid part of December. And so the pressure’s going to continue to mount on the Congress to take decisive action during that period of time as people all across America realize that things are about to get extremely costly. In states like Georgia, Virginia and Maryland, we now have visibility into the fact that costs may increase on a monthly basis by approximately $2,000 per month. That means that health insurance premiums could actually increase to over $24,000 a year. That’s unaffordable. The average income of someone who receives an Affordable Care Act tax credit is around $63,000 a year. And so, clearly, these type of premium increases for people to get access to a doctor when they need them are unsustainable.
And so over the next few weeks, it will become readily apparent to people throughout America why it is so important for Congress to act to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits. And by the way, Michel, health insurance costs are going to increase for people who receive assistance through the tax credits on the Affordable Care Act, as well as people who receive their health insurance from their employer as well.
MARTIN: Why is that?
JEFFRIES: Well, because the – there’s one system. And to the extent that you begin to remove people from health insurance in numbers that would be contemplated – more than 20 million, perhaps – that’s the number of Americans who…
MARTIN: Well, the argument being – the argument here being that people…
JEFFRIES: Yes.
MARTIN: …Will drop out because it’s unaffordable, right? Is that the argument here?
JEFFRIES: That’s – well, people will drop out because it’s unaffordable. And as a result, the costs are going to increase on everybody else.
MARTIN: So last week, I spoke with Republican Congressman Mike Lawler. He’s a member of the New York delegation, one of your colleagues. He confronted you earlier this month in the Capitol, and this is what he had to say. Let’s listen.
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MIKE LAWLER: If you want to solve an issue like the Obamacare subsidies that Democrats put in place for four years and were slated to expire at the end of this year – they knew that they were slated to expire. They passed the bill. And so I’ve already signed on to legislation to extend the subsidies by a year, and that was part of my point to Hakeem Jeffries. If you’re serious about this, if this is the issue you claim it is, then why won’t you sign on to this bill with me?
MARTIN: What do you say to that? What’s wrong with extending the subsidies for a year to give you more time to negotiate?
JEFFRIES: Well, what we’ve made clear is that we need to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits at a level that will provide certainty to the American people, who are already struggling with the high cost of living in this country, living paycheck to paycheck, can’t thrive, can barely survive. Now, Mike Lawler and his Republican colleagues earlier this year did all that they could to pass the one big, ugly bill, which included the largest cut to Medicaid in American history. Fourteen million people are at risk of losing their health insurance coverage throughout the country, including in rural America. Hospitals, nursing homes and community-based health clinics are about to close across the country, and we’re already seeing that happen in some states.
And all of this was done so that Republicans could provide massive tax breaks that they made permanent for their billionaire donors. If billionaires can be provided tax breaks on a permanent basis in ways that, you know, will explode the deficit all across the country and result in people losing their health insurance because, in part, it was paid for by a trillion-dollar cut to Medicaid, it seems to us that Republicans should come to the table to provide a greater degree of certainty as it relates to health care that’s being provided to working-class Americans.
MARTIN: So yesterday, you said that you’d oppose GOP legislation to pay military service members. That’s something President Trump already says he’s going to do. And then this bill would also pay essential federal workers. You say you oppose this because you call it a political ploy. Notwithstanding the fact that you argue that this would give the president discretion to decide who would get paid and who wouldn’t get paid and you feel that that’s not right, there still are a lot of workers in those groups who would face real hardship without pay. How – what do you say to them?
JEFFRIES: Well, it’s a very important question. In terms – I support the military being paid. And we, in fact, on the Democratic side of the House had introduced legislation to ensure that that happens. In terms of the legislation that Ron Johnson apparently was putting forward or may plan to put forward in the Senate, it gives President Trump wide discretion to decide who gets paid, who doesn’t get paid, what happens in terms of furloughed workers, who apparently will not be addressed in this legislation. And he’s already threatened not to pay furloughed workers, even though that’s contrary to federal law that he himself signed in 2019.
This has been a lawless administration from Day 1 of this presidency. And allowing them to have further discretion as to how they may proceed, particularly when they have targeted hardworking federal civil servants from the very beginning of this term in extraordinary ways, is not an appropriate step forward. It’s piecemeal. It’s not comprehensive. And we need to reopen the government in its entirety, and we’re ready to do that as Democrats. We just need partners on the other side of the aisle in terms of a willingness to proceed in good faith.
MARTIN: That is Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York. He’s the House minority leader. Leader Jeffries, I do hope you’ll come back and talk more about this as this situation continues. Thank you so much for joining us today.
JEFFRIES: Thank you.
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