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House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark speaks during a press conference as the government shutdown continues in Washington, Oct. 1, 2025. (Nathan Posner\/Anadolu via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
The government ran out of funding on Oct. 1 after lawmakers failed to reach an agreement on spending legislation for 2026, plunging the country into a shutdown that has gone on for 16 days. Democrats in Congress have made it clear they won\u2019t support any funding package<\/a> to reopen the government that doesn\u2019t also include an extension of COVID-era Obamacare subsidies<\/a>.<\/p>\n Those subsidies, which dramatically extended the pool of eligible applicants for enhanced premium tax credits as a part of the 2021 American Rescue Plan, are set to expire at the end of 2025. Several lawmakers from both parties have expressed alarm that letting them expire would leave millions of Obamacare policyholders \u2014 who took advantage of that extended eligibility \u2014 suddenly stuck with dramatically higher premiums overnight.<\/p>\n HOUSE DEMOCRATS THREATEN SHUTDOWN FIGHT TO PROTECT OBAMACARE PERKS<\/a><\/p>\n Open enrollment for the enhanced premium tax credits is set to start at the beginning of next month.<\/p>\n “We are watching a crisis come at us,” Clark said. “And this is the crisis of that.”<\/p>\n “The marketplace, the ACA marketplace, open enrollment takes place on Nov. 1,” she said, referring to Obamacare, also known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA). “People are receiving their premium notices that they’re going to go to that marketplace and say, \u2018I can’t afford this.\u2019 That is a real crisis for American families. And it drives up the cost of healthcare for every single person, no matter where you get your health insurance from.”<\/p>\n Clark’s messaging echoes the position of other leaders in the Democratic Party, such as House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who have similarly made healthcare a focus of their messaging on the shutdown.<\/p>\n Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., flanked by House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., and Rep. Lauren Underwood, D-Ill., speaks at a news conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. (Kent Nishimura\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n Clark noted that Democrats perceive a heightened political leverage to push for an extension to the Obamacare credits in light of GOP-led changes to Medicaid that became law under Trump\u2019s One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) earlier this year.<\/p>\n DEMOCRATS BLAME GOP FOR OBAMACARE WOES TIED TO PANDEMIC-ERA SUBSIDIES<\/a><\/p>\n “This is a fight that we are waging on behalf of the American people who are telling us, \u2018We’re not making it.’ And they deserve to have healthcare when they need it that they can afford and where they need it,” Clark said.<\/p>\n Among other changes, the OBBBA pushed some of the costs of Medicaid back onto the individual states, implemented new reporting requirements and introduced slightly higher work requirements for certain demographics.<\/p>\n President Donald Trump, joined by Republican lawmakers, signs the OBBBA into law on Independence Day at the South Lawn of the White House in Washington. (Samuel Corum\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n![\"Senate](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/gettyimages-2173563674-scaled.jpg\")
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