Senate Democrats Counter GOP Funding Bill With Their Own — and a Fight Over Health Care Subsidies for Millions
With a shutdown deadline bearing down, Senate Democrats unveiled a rival stopgap bill that would permanently extend Affordable Care Act tax credits for more than four million people — setting up a collision with the House GOP's version.
WASHINGTON — Congress is barreling toward another funding cliff, and this time the fight is as much about health insurance premiums as it is about keeping the lights on in federal agencies.
Senate Democrats on Wednesday released their own one-month continuing resolution, the Continuing Appropriations and Extensions and Other Matters Act, which would fund the government through Oct. 31 — a direct rival to the House Republican stopgap bill released a day earlier, according to a section-by-section summary published by Senate Democrats.
What's actually in dispute
The centerpiece of the Democratic bill is a permanent extension of enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits, which subsidize health coverage for lower-income Americans and are set to expire at the end of the year. Nonpartisan estimates cited by the National Low Income Housing Coalition put more than four million people at risk of losing affordable coverage if the credits lapse. The Democratic bill would also roll back Medicaid cuts enacted under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, restore funding cut by last year's Rescissions Act, and add $30 million for congressional security along with $58 million for Supreme Court and executive-branch security.
OVER FOUR MILLION PEOPLE AT RISK OF LOSING COVERAGE
Republicans, who control both chambers, have shown little appetite for permanently extending the subsidies, arguing the cost is too high and that a shorter-term fix should be negotiated separately from government funding. GOP leadership has signaled it intends to push its own stopgap through the House on a near party-line vote.
The clock
Current funding lapses at midnight on Oct. 1 unless one of the competing bills — or some negotiated hybrid — clears both chambers and reaches the president's desk. Neither side has the votes to pass its version unilaterally in the Senate, where 60 votes are needed to overcome a filibuster, meaning some bipartisan deal is all but required to avoid a shutdown.
What's next
Leadership aides in both parties say private talks are underway even as the public posturing continues. Health policy groups are watching closely: insurers must finalize 2027 ACA marketplace premiums in the coming weeks, and any delay in resolving the tax-credit question could itself drive up costs for consumers regardless of how the shutdown fight ends.