Hours Before Shutdown Deadline, Health Care Fight Keeps Congress at a Standstill

With a shutdown set to begin October 1, Republicans push for a “clean” funding bill while Democrats demand protections for Obamacare subsidies and Medicaid. The standoff leaves agencies and territories bracing for furloughs and delays.

With only hours to go before the federal government officially runs out of funding, lawmakers on Capitol Hill remain deadlocked over health care provisions after a Monday afternoon meeting with the White House.

The primary impasse centers on health care funding and policy changes, specifically Democrats’ demands to include provisions in any short-term funding bill, known as a continuing resolution (CR), that would extend expiring Affordable Care Act (ACA, or Obamacare) subsidies—estimated by the Congressional Budget Office to cost over $1 trillion over 10 years—and reverse Republican-led cuts to Medicaid and other health programs enacted earlier in 2025.

Republicans, who control both chambers of Congress and the White House under President Trump, are pushing for what they call a “clean” CR that would simply extend current funding levels through November 21, 2025, without these additions. That bill passed the House largely along party lines but failed in the Senate on a 44-48 procedural vote September 19, where Democrats united in opposition. GOP leaders, including Senate Majority Leader John Thune, argue that a clean CR avoids “unreasonable concessions” and buys time for broader negotiations. Democrats, however, view it as enabling further erosion of health protections.

The fight has sharpened partisan rhetoric. Republicans have framed Democratic opposition as extreme, with some, such as Senator John Barrasso, accusing Democrats of holding up funding to secure “free health care for illegal immigrants.” Democrats have rejected the claim, noting their explicit conditions revolve around protecting ACA subsidies for legal residents and undoing Medicaid cuts, not expanding benefits for undocumented immigrants.  READ MORE...  https://viconsortium.com/vi-us/virgin-islands-hours-before-shutdown-deadline--health-care-fight-keeps-congress-at-a-standstill