By April Ryan
Two weeks after the end of the longest government shutdown in American history, President Trump is working on plans to counter the Affordable Care Act Subsidies that end on December 31st.
Democrats held out for the most part, hoping to preserve their solutions to keep the ACA tax credits in place during the recent 43-day government shutdown.
White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt told reporters yesterday the president’s plan would “fix the system and bring down costs for consumers.” She acknowledged the president is “frequently” and “robustly” engaged in conversations on Healthcare. Members of the Republican conference are also said to be working to lower the cost of health insurance.
Long-time Democratic South Carolina Congressman, James Clyburn, acknowledged to this reporter last week,” I think health care will be fine. It is not going to be as much as I want it to be. I do not think it is going away. It will be here. Hopefully, it will be affordable.”
Georgia Democratic Congressman Sanford Bishop says, “It has hit them [Republicans] in the face that the American people overwhelmingly want to lower their healthcare costs and don’t want to see them rise astronomically as they are inevitable with the expiration of the tax credits under the Affordable Care Act.”
The impasse over the most recent federal government shutdown, which started on October 1 and ended 43 days later in mid-November, was over funding for the ObamaCare (ACA) subsidies.
During the president’s late-night bill signing earlier this month to reopen the government, he said, “Today we’re sending a clear message we will never give in to extortion,” emphasizing what he felt was that “the Democrats tried to extort” $1.5 trillion for Obamacare subsidies during the shutdown stalemate. Also, that same night, Trump said, “We’re gonna forget this Obamacare madness.”
President Trump claims the shutdown was purely for political reasons, as Democrats are still fighting to lower skyrocketing insurance rates for Americans, anticipating that the subsidies will end on the last day of the year.
January 30, 2026, is the deadline to resolve the issues and stave off another government shutdown.
Congressman Bishop laments that, as both parties are in search of reducing costs for health insurance, “there is still a great gap in the means by which that can be accomplished.”
