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Several Democrat senators seemed ready to expand COVID-era Obamacare tax credits holding up spending legislation needed to reopen the government — but less willing to grapple with what that would mean for the country’s expenses.
“I’ll disagree with the framing of deficit increase,” Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said when asked about the program’s implications for the country’s bottom line.
Others, like Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., declined to respond.
Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., walks through the Senate Subway in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, January 2025. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
The country plunged into a shutdown at the beginning of the month when lawmakers failed to agree on a short-term spending extension that would have funded the government through Nov. 21. But the disagreement wasn’t about the package itself. In 2021, Congress temporarily expanded eligibility for Obamacare’s enhanced premium tax credits subsidies, meant to help Americans pay for their health insurance plans amid the uncertainty of the pandemic. That increased eligibility sunsets at the end of 2025. Democrats have made the program’s continuation a key condition in support for any spending package.
Republicans need at least seven Democrats to advance spending legislation in the Senate, where Republicans must clear the 60-vote threshold to overcome a filibuster. The GOP holds 53 seats in the chamber.
OBAMACARE SUBSIDIES AT CENTER OF DEM SHUTDOWN FIGHT ‘FUEL’ HEALTHCARE COST INFLATION, CONSERVATIVES SAY
According to the Committee of a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan fiscal policy think tank, continuing the expanded credits could cost upwards of $30 billion annually.
Where Republicans see the expiration as an opportunity to return government spending to pre-COVID levels and shrink the national deficit, Democrats have expressed alarm over recipients who could face an abrupt end to their federal assistance.
“You have literally…
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