Centrist Democrats are looking for a way out of the government shutdown, trying to find a negotiating partner on the GOP side. So far, Republicans want no part of it.
On Monday, Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill. — the chairman of the center-left New Democrat Coalition — fired off letters to two centrist Republican groups: the Republican Governance Group and the Main Street Caucus. Schneider asked the chairmen of both factions — Reps. David Valadao, R-Calif., and Mike Flood, R-Neb., respectively — to convene a bipartisan cohort to discuss the funding lapse and the looming expiration of Obamacare tax credits.
“This is not about assigning blame or rehashing past disagreements,” Schneider wrote in nearly identical letters to Valadao and Flood that were obtained by MSNBC. “It is about listening to one another and working toward reopening the government and avoiding increases in healthcare premiums in a way that reflects our mutual commitment to those we represent.”
But those requests were quickly rejected, with Valadao and Flood both restating the standard GOP position — that they are open to discussing health care once the government is reopened. That has been the firm position of message Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and his leadership team even before the shutdown began.
“Americans are struggling, and I agree that we must work together to pass meaningful policy solutions that help lower the cost of healthcare, including enhanced premium tax credits expiring at the end of this year,” Valadao wrote in a letter to Schneider that was sent on Tuesday and first reported by NOTUS. “However, holding the American government hostage and withholding pay from hardworking federal employees is not the way to accomplish that goal.”
Flood struck a similar note, telling Schneider he would like to sit down to discuss how to improve life for their constituents “once the government re-opens.”
“The members of the Main Street Caucus, by and large, always vote to fund the government regardless of who occupies the White House,” Flood wrote in his own letter to Schneider on Tuesday. “We don’t believe in leveraging the paychecks of federal employees to achieve a political outcome.”
The back-and-forth underscores two emerging themes in the shutdown showdown. On the left, Democrats are looking for a negotiating partner as the effects of the shutdown grow more acute. And on the right, Republicans — even more moderate Republicans — are standing firm that they won’t negotiate until the lights are turned back on.
Schneider made his entreaties as concerns over the effect of the shutdown mount on both sides of the aisle, with food benefits set to run out; the pot of money for low-income pregnant women, infants and children (WIC) running dry; and federal workers on track to miss another paycheck.
But unlike previous shutdowns, those pressure points have failed to nudge either party toward compromise. In fact, the pressure points seem to be doing the opposite, prompting Democrats and Republicans to dig in.
Democrats have said they won’t support a government funding bill unless it addresses the looming expiration of Affordable Care Act tax credits, sounding the alarm about millions of Americans facing health-care premiums that could more than double.
“Since October 1st, we’ve been in Washington, ready to talk to Republicans about the healthcare crisis they’ve created and a bipartisan path to end the shutdown,” Schneider said in a statement to MSNBC. “We were hopeful that in light of the looming November 1st enrollment deadline that they would want to finally talk.”
“New Dems are ready when they change their minds and decide to come back to DC to do their jobs,” he added.
Republicans, meanwhile, say the only way out of the shutdown is with the short-term spending bill the House passed last month, which Democrats have deemed a nonstarter.
Valadao, who sits in one of the most Democratic districts represented by a Republican, told MSNBC in a statement that, “as someone who has routinely pushed back against my own party during funding fights, it’s frustrating to see those who haven’t suddenly call for ‘good governance’ now.”
“I’m looking forward to working across the aisle to tackle rising health-care costs, but first we need to get the government back open,” Valadao said.
Mychael Schnell is a reporter for MS NOW.