Republican leaders reject Democratic health care demands for bill to
avoid shutdown
[September 18, 2025]
By MARY CLARE JALONICK and JOEY CAPPELLETTI
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican leaders in the House and Senate said
Wednesday that they will reject Democratic demands for an immediate
extension of health care subsidies, challenging Democrats to vote
against a stopgap spending bill that doesn't include them but will keep
the government open at the end of the month.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said Democrats “have a choice
to make” as the Sept. 30 deadline approaches. They can work with
Republicans, Thune said, or “they can shut down the government with all
that will mean for the American people.”
The House could vote as soon as Thursday on a Republican stopgap measure
to keep federal agencies funded through Nov. 21, buying lawmakers more
time to work out their differences on spending levels. Republicans argue
they are providing exactly what Democrats have insisted upon in past
government shutdown battles — a clean funding bill free of partisan
policy riders.
But Democrats said it wasn't enough, releasing a counterproposal late
Wednesday even as Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson said they
wouldn't consider it. The Democratic proposal would extend subsidies for
low- and middle-income individuals who purchase health insurance through
the Affordable Care Act and reverse Medicaid cuts that were included in
Republicans' “big beautiful bill” enacted earlier this year.
“We will sit down and negotiate if they will sit down and negotiate,”
said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. “We don’t have a red
line, but we know we have to help the American people.”
Republicans will need at least seven Democrats to vote with them to pass
the short-term measure. Without Democrats, Schumer said, “they're going
to end up shutting down the government.”
It’s a high-stakes game of brinksmanship for the Democrats, in
particular, as the party’s base urges them to fight harder and many
wager that a shutdown would force Republicans to negotiate with them on
health care and other issues. If the government does shut down on Oct.
1, most federal agencies will close and millions of federal employees
deemed non-essential, including many in the military, won’t receive
paychecks. And there’s no guarantee that the two parties could find
agreement on how to end the standoff.
Democrats on both sides of the Capitol are watching Schumer closely
after his last-minute decision in March to vote with Republicans to keep
the government open. Schumer argued then that a shutdown would be
damaging and would give President Donald Trump and his White House
freedom to make more government cuts. Many on the left revolted, with
some advocates calling for his resignation.
The vote in the spring also caused a temporary schism with House
Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who opposed the GOP spending bill and
said he would not be “complicit” with Schumer’s vote.
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As lawmakers debate a government funding extension, Speaker of the
House Mike Johnson, R-La., awaits the arrival of the leader of the
Orthodox Christian Church, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew for a
meeting, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025.
(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
The two Democratic leaders now say they are united, and Schumer says
that things have changed since March. The public is more wary of
Trump and Republicans, Schumer says, after the passage of Medicaid
cuts.
Democrats' top demand has been an extension of the health care tax
credits that expire at the end of the year. Thune and House Speaker
Mike Johnson have indicated that they are open to extending the
subsidies, which made health insurance more affordable for millions
of people since the COVID-19 pandemic. But many Republicans would
like to see changes that Democrats are likely to oppose, and both
Thune and Johnson have made clear that they need more time to work
on the issue.
“They’re trying to insert unrelated matters into the middle of a
clean government extension. And I don’t think that’s going to work,”
House Speaker Mike Johnson said on CNBC Wednesday morning.
The GOP bill would generally fund agencies at current levels, with a
few limited exceptions, including an extra $88 million to increase
security for lawmakers, the Supreme Court and members of the
executive branch. The proposed boost comes as lawmakers face an
increasing number of personal threats, with their concerns
heightened by last week’s assassination of conservative activist
Charlie Kirk.
The Democratic alternative introduced by Schumer on Wednesday would
include more than $180 million for congressional security and
another $140 million for the Supreme Court and other federal courts.
Trump, so far, has been dismissive of the Democrats’ threats of a
shutdown, saying last week to not “even bother” negotiating with
them.
“If you gave them every dream, they would not vote for it,” Trump
said.
Democrats have tried to use those words against him and insist the
president would take the blame if the government shuts down.
“Unless he’s forgotten that you need a supermajority to pass a
budget in the Senate, that’s obviously his signal he wants a
shutdown,” said Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat.
—
Associated Press writer Kevin Freking contributed to this report.
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