All posts tagged "Obamacare"

WASHINGTON — Republican leaders’ refusal to consider extending Affordable Care Act subsidies set to expire at year’s end is weird, according to at least one senior GOP senator, after the issue erupted and fueled high drama in the House this week.

“It's just strange,” Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD), who sits on the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, told congressional reporters.

“We had the vote last week, and … now the House passed [its own measure], and we're going to have a vote, and of course, that’s not going to go anywhere. ...

WASHINGTON — Thursday is the long-awaited health-care day in the U.S. Senate, but that doesn’t mean Congress has a plan to avert massive spikes in health premiums in the New Year.

To counter Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s proposal to extend COVID-era Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies for three years — which most Republicans say is too long — on Tuesday, Majority Leader John Thune announced the GOP would offer a new measure to replace subsidies with health savings accounts.

“We need to fix it. It's broken. It's a piece of sh––,” Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) told Raw Story of the ACA, commonly known as Obamacare....

WASHINGTON — To end the longest government shutdown in American history, a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators came together and agreed to kick the can.

The can seems to have hit a brick wall.

Unless Congress acts, massive spikes in health-care premiums are coming in the New Year for millions of Americans — the reason Democrats refused to fund the government this fall. ...

After more than a decade of opposing Obamacare’s healthcare subsidies, President Donald Trump is now considering proposing a two-year extension of the soon-to-expire tax credits.

The Hill reports his sudden reversal is putting Republicans in a bind and setting the stage “for GOP leaders in Congress to advance a program they deeply detest after warning for months of its harmful effects.”

“Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has led Obamacare opposition on Capitol Hill, arguing the program is irredeemable and needs a massive overhaul, if not outright repeal,” reports the Hill. “He and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) had refused to negotiate on the Democrats’ demand to extend the subsidies during last month’s fight over government spending — an impasse that led directly to the 43-day shutdown. While Thune promised Senate Democrats a mid-December vote on extending the subsidies, Johnson notably declined to make any such commitment.”...

WASHINGTON — Happy Groundhog Day. Again.

With the US federal government shutdown entering its fifth week and a growing number of Americans feeling deepening economic pain, there are whispers of a thaw on Capitol Hill. At the very least, some more middle-of-the-road Democratic and Republican senators are talking to each other.

Such signs of bipartisanship seemed to have spooked President Donald Trump, who took to Truth Social late last week to demand GOP leaders “INITIATE THE ‘NUCLEAR OPTION’” and get rid of the filibuster, so Republicans can more easily ram Trump-approved policies through Congress. ...

WASHINGTON — This government shutdown is overflowing with photo-ops, talking points and finger-pointing. What’s missing — besides the House of Representatives — are actual negotiations.

The lack of a negotiating partner seems to only be unifying congressional Democrats in their demand that Congress extend Affordable Care Act (ACA — or “Obamacare”) subsidies before premiums skyrocket.

So when will the shutdown, now the second longest in American history, end? ...