Senate Democrats, holding out for health care, ready to reject
government funding bill for 10th time
[October 16, 2025]
By STEPHEN GROVES and MARY CLARE JALONICK
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats are poised for the 10th time Thursday
to reject a stopgap spending bill that would reopen the government,
insisting they won’t back away from demands that Congress take up health
care benefits.
The repetition of votes on the funding bill has become a daily drumbeat
in Congress, underscoring how intractable the situation has become as it
has been at times the only item on the agenda for the Senate floor.
House Republicans have left Washington altogether. The standoff has
lasted over two weeks, leaving hundreds of thousands of federal workers
furloughed, even more without a guaranteed payday and Congress
essentially paralyzed.
“Every day that goes by, there are more and more Americans who are
getting smaller and smaller paychecks,” said Senate Majority Leader John
Thune, adding that there have been thousands of flight delays across the
country as well.
Thune, a South Dakota Republican, again and again has tried to pressure
Democrats to break from their strategy of voting against the stopgap
funding bill. It hasn't worked. And while some bipartisan talks have
been ongoing about potential compromises on health care, they haven't
produced any meaningful progress toward reopening the government.
Democrats say they won't budge until they get a guarantee on extending
subsidies for health plans offered under Affordable Care Act
marketplaces. They warned that millions of Americans who buy their own
health insurance — such as small business owners, farmers and
contractors — will see large increases when premium prices go out in the
coming weeks. Looking ahead to a Nov. 1 deadline in most states, they
think voters will demand that Republicans enter into serious
negotiations.
“We have to do something, and right now, Republicans are letting these
tax credits expire,” said Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer.
Still, Thune was also trying a different tack Thursday with a vote to
proceed to appropriations bills — a move that could grease the Senate's
wheels into some action or just deepen the divide between the two
parties.
A deadline for subsidies on health plans
Democrats have rallied around their priorities on health care as they
hold out against voting for a Republican bill that would reopen the
government. Yet they also warn that the time to strike a deal to prevent
large increases for many health plans is drawing short.
When they controlled Congress during the pandemic, Democrats boosted
subsidies for Affordable Care Act health plans. It pushed enrollment
under President Barack Obama's signature health care law to new levels
and drove the rate of uninsured people to a historic low. Nearly 24
million people currently get their health insurance from subsidized
marketplaces, according to health care research nonprofit KFF.
Democrats — and some Republicans — are worried that many of those people
will forgo insurance if the price rises dramatically. While the tax
credits don't expire until next year, health insurers will soon send out
notices of the price increases. In most states, they go out Nov. 1.
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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., meets with reporters
to talk about the struggle to end the government shutdown, at the
Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott
Applewhite)
Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations
Committee, said she has heard from “families who are absolutely
panicking about their premiums that are doubling."
“They are small business owners who are having to think about
abandoning the job they love to get employer-sponsored health care
elsewhere or just forgoing coverage altogether,” she added.
Murray also said that if many people decide to leave their health
plan, it could have an effect across medical insurance because the
pool of people under health plans will shrink. That could result in
higher prices across the board, she said.
Some Republicans have acknowledged that the expiration of the tax
credits could be a problem and floated potential compromises to
address it, but there is hardly a consensus among the GOP.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., this week called the COVID-era
subsidies a "boondoggle,” adding that “when you subsidize the health
care system and you pay insurance companies more, the prices
increase.”
President Donald Trump has said he would “like to see a deal done
for great health care,” but has not meaningfully weighed into the
debate. And Thune has insisted that Democrats first vote to reopen
the government before entering any negotiations on health care.
If Congress were to engage in negotiations on significant changes to
health care, it would likely take weeks, if not longer, to work out
a compromise.
Votes on appropriations bills
Meanwhile, Senate Republicans are setting up a vote Thursday to
proceed to a bill to fund the Defense Department and several other
areas of government. This would turn the Senate to Thune's priority
of working through spending bills and potentially pave the way to
paying salaries for troops, though the House would eventually need
to come back to Washington to vote for a final bill negotiated
between the two chambers.
Thune said it would be a step toward getting "the government funded
in the traditional way, which is through the annual appropriations
process.”
It wasn't clear whether Democrats would give the support needed to
advance the bills. They discussed the idea at their luncheon
Wednesday and emerged saying they wanted to review the Republican
proposal and make sure it included appropriations that are
priorities for them.
While the votes will not bring the Senate any closer to an immediate
fix for the government shutdown, it could at least turn their
attention to issues where there is some bipartisan agreement.
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