House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Monday said he will not support Republican legislation that would at least temporarily re-open the government if and when it reaches the lower chamber.
On Sunday night, 42 days into the government shutdown, a small group of Senate Democrats broke from their party and voted to advance a spending package that would fund the federal government through January but does not include a key Democratic demand: the extension of Affordable Care Act healthcare subsidies.
If the subsidies expire, millions of Americans who rely on ACA policies could see their monthly premiums double or triple in cost.
“That is unacceptable,” Jeffries said at a press conference on Monday. “It will be unaffordable for working-class Americans, middle class Americans and everyday Americans to go see a doctor when they need one.”
The 60-40 vote was not final, but indicated that the measure has enough support to clear the Senate in the coming days, then head to the House of Representatives. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-L.A.) on Monday urged members to head back to Capitol Hill immediately, according to Politico, and is hoping to hold a vote to reopen the government as soon as Wednesday.
“As House Democrats, we know we’re on the right side of this fight, the right side of the American people,” Jeffries said. “We’re not going to support a partisan Republican spending bill that continues to gut the healthcare of the American people. We’re going to continue to fight to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits.”
The package includes funding for SNAP and backpay for furloughed federal workers, and would fund most federal agencies through at least January 20, 2026.
Senate Democrats who supported the bill said Republicans and President Donald Trump had shown they were unwilling to budge on ACA subsidies, and said the bill would bring much-needed relief to constituents who had been suffering under the government shutdown. As part of an agreement, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) has reportedly agreed to hold a vote on extending ACA subsidies in December.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-I.L.), one of the seven Democrats who voted in favor of the spending package on Sunday, said Democrats had made gains during weeks of negotiations.
“At Democrats’ urging, today’s bill is not the same one we’ve voted down 14 times,” he said in a statement. “Republicans finally woke up and realized their Groundhog Day needed to end. This bill is not perfect, but it takes important steps to reduce their shutdown’s hurt.”
Brooklyn’s lawmakers were not convinced. U.S. Rep. Dan Goldman, who represents parts of Brooklyn and lower Manhattan, said in a statement that Republicans “refuse to work out a bipartisan deal to get the bipartisan vote necessary to pass the budget.”
“A ‘deal’ that leaves millions facing higher health costs in exchange for empty promises is a betrayal. Americans are counting on Democrats to stand up for them, not give in,” she said on X. “The Senate should reject it, and I will vote NO if it reaches the House.”
Still, House Republicans hold a majority in the chamber, and could vote to pass the bill even if all 213 Democrats vote against it. U.S. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis — New York City’s only congressional Republican — said Democrats were hurting hospitals and Americans by pushing for ACA subsidy extensions and keeping the government closed. In a video posted on social media, Malliotakis said she wanted tax cuts to be given to consumers, not health insurance companies, and seemed to brush off concerns about ACA subsidies because they don’t expire “until the end of the year,”
“We are here because the Affordable Care Act that they passed in 2014 was never really affordable,” Malliotakis said. “And that’s a fact.”
Senate Minority Leader and Park Slope resident Chuck Schumer voted against the package on Sunday and slammed it from the Senate floor on Monday — though he did not address Democratic party members who voted to support it.
“Republicans now own this healthcare crisis, they knew it was coming. We wanted to fix it, Republicans said now, and now it’s on them,” Schumer said.
Jeffries said he had not spoken to the Senate Democrats who voted to approve the measure, and that they would “have to explain themselves to their constituents and to the American people.”
But he stood by Schumer and by most Senate Democrats, who he said had “waged a valiant fight over the last seven weeks.”
“But the fight is getting ready to shift back to the house, where we’re going to work hard, hold Republicans accountable,” Jeffries said.
