At the heart of the recent government shutdown was a fight over health care costs: Democrats fought to save tens of millions of American consumers from vastly more expensive premiums under the Affordable Care Act, while Republicans said there was plenty of time to deal with the issue ahead of the December deadline.
As December gets underway, lawmakers — and, more to the point, their constituents — are quickly running out of calendar, while the underlying issue on coverage costs remains entirely unresolved. Millions of families will soon have to choose between paying far more or going without.
Last week, the White House intended to unveil a plan to address the problem, but Donald Trump and his team pulled the plug when congressional Republicans balked at the president’s solution.
Amid these GOP divisions and the still-unresolved problem, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries sent a “Dear Colleague” letter to his fellow Democratic members, emphasizing the timeline — and his proposed fix. From the New York Democrat’s letter:
There are just 13 legislative days left before the Affordable Care Act tax credits expire. Working and middle class Americans all throughout the country will be hurt tremendously. To avert this crisis, House Democrats have introduced a discharge petition that will trigger an up-or-down vote on a three-year extension of the Affordable Care Act tax credits. We only need a handful of Republicans to join us in order to save the health care of tens of millions of Americans. It’s time for the do-nothing Republican Congress to proceed with urgency.
As the fight over transparency in the Jeffrey Epstein case recently made clear, discharge petitions can work. All Democrats would need is a handful of House Republicans to agree to an extension of the status quo, which would prevent significant price hikes.
As of Monday night, however, the grand total of GOP members willing to sign on to the Democratic measure was zero. Soon after, Politico reported, “Senate Majority Leader John Thune cast doubt Monday on the odds of a bipartisan deal on soon-to-expire Affordable Care Act subsidies ahead of a high-stakes vote next week, saying discussions with Democrats and the White House are ongoing.” For most consumers seeking coverage that would begin on Jan. 1, the deadline for choosing a plan is Dec. 15, which is less than two weeks away. Watch this space. This post updates our related earlier coverage.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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