Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) offered a plan Friday to end the government shutdown, headlined by a one-year extension of the enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits and a short-term spending bill.
“Democrats have said we must address the health care crisis, but Republicans have repeatedly said they won’t negotiate to lower the health care costs until the government reopens,” Schumer said on the floor, with other Democrats in the chamber. “So let’s find a path to honor both positions.”
“We’d like to offer a simple proposal that would reopen the government and extend the ACA premium tax credits simultaneously, and then have the opportunity to start negotiating longer term solutions to health care costs. Let’s do all three.”
On top of the one-year extension, Schumer’s offer also called for short-term funding bill known as a continuing resolution (CR) and the attachment of a three-bill minibus of full-year spending bills that were a part of previous bipartisan talks.
The plan also includes the creation of a “bipartisan committee to continue negotiations on long-term reforms to address healthcare affordability,” Schumer’s office said.
The offer came after days of intense discussions on the Democratic side about the possibility of an off-ramp. Democrats had been demanding an extension of the ACA credits as a condition of reopening the government, but as the pain being caused by the shutdown intensified, a debate emerged between progressives and moderate-leaning members over whether to accept an offer from Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.).
That blueprint included a vote on a CR until January, and attached the minibus and a commitment to hold a vote to extend the ACA subsidies.
Talks continued until midday Thursday, when Democrats decided over lunch to unify behind a single plan by the party, which Schumer finally unveiled.
Thune has been adamant that not only will his conference not negotiate on health care until the government is open, but that he could not guarantee a result on the tax credits, given the opposition to extending them within both the Senate and House GOP conferences.
Senate Republicans are expected to discuss the plan during a conference meeting set for 3:30 p.m. EST.
Up until the Schumer proposal was made, there were questions over the path in the upper chamber in the coming hours and days.
Thune was hopeful to hold a vote on the House-passed CR with an eye toward amending it with the bipartisan talks in mind.
He also indicated a vote on Sen. Ron Johnson’s (R-Wis.) bill aimed at paying excepted federal workers throughout the shutdown was also a possibility.
However, Johnson attempted to pass it via unanimous consent shortly before Schumer’s offer was made. Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) objected to it.
Updated at 3:07 p.m. EST
