Democrats say they’re protecting health care subsidies, which Republicans say would restore loopholes that let illegal immigrants access taxpayer-funded care.
Partisan deadlock on Capitol Hill has triggered a government shutdown, with Democrats conditioning their support for a stopgap funding bill on health care provisions they say are essential to protecting Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies.
Meanwhile, Republicans say that the Democratic plan would once again open the door to billions of taxpayer dollars flowing to illegal immigrants and other non-citizens.
At the heart of the dispute is whether to keep or repeal provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) Act and the Working Families Tax Cut Act (WFTCA), signed into law in July, which Republicans said will ensure Medicaid, Medicare, and ACA subsidies are reserved for citizens and lawful residents.
What Do Democrats and Republicans Want?
With Republicans controlling both chambers of Congress, Democrats lack the numbers to pass legislation outright, but they retain leverage in the Senate, where 60 votes are needed to advance a spending bill. They are using that leverage to push for continued ACA subsidies and to roll back OBBB/WFTCA provisions enacted in July that they say unfairly target immigrants and low-income households.
Democrats want to make permanent the enhanced ACA subsidies that are set to expire at year’s end, saying that millions of Americans could face sharp premium hikes without them. They also want to prevent the Trump administration from using executive actions to sideline or suspend the ACA provisions.
But their proposal goes further. Section 2141 of the Democratic version of the continuing resolution (CR)—or stopgap funding bill—would scrap parts of the July law that cut off many non-citizens from federally funded health programs, including some who entered the United States illegally.
Democrats describe this as restoring the pre-July status quo and deny any intent to expand federally funded health care to people who are in the United States unlawfully. Republicans call it a deliberate attempt to direct federal health care dollars to illegal immigrants.
While federal law bars illegal immigrants from Medicaid, Medicare, CHIP, and ACA subsidies, Republicans say that repealing the July reforms would reopen loopholes—through asylum, parole, and state schemes—that had effectively extended federal benefits to people in the United States unlawfully.
Republicans say they are open to considering a fix for the expiring ACA tax breaks, but they say the issue should be handled separately. They are backing a straightforward stopgap spending bill with no “riders” that was passed by the House and would fund the government through Nov. 21 at the existing spending level before the shutdown. It does not include any changes to ACA subsidies.
By Tom Ozimek
