Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer walked away from a Republican colleague on the floor of the chamber on Saturday after he was cornered over a so-called âfixâ he offered for Obamacare subsidies as the government shutdown he is leading entered its 39th day.
Schumer was engaging with Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) after the Democratic leader offered a proposal to reopen the government: A one-year funding extension of taxpayer-funded subsidies for Americans who buy health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.
During the exchange, Schumer admitted to Moreno that he did not yet have a written proposal.
âWe canât give you a counter in writing, but itâs very simple,â Schumer said. âBecause we have two sentences we would add to any proposal which would extend the ACA benefits for one year.â
Moreno the revealed that the Schumer proposal did not seem to contain income caps, meaning people who make millions of dollars a year can obtain taxpayer-subsidized health care.
âIt does still have no income caps, so people who make $1, $2, $3 million a year,â Moreno said before Schumer interrupted him.
âOnce we pass the one-year fixed so people right now arenât in difficulty, we would sit and negotiate that,â Schumer said. â[Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.)]has said that he wonât negotiate before. Weâre willing to negotiate once the credits are extended, plain and simple.â
The Ohio Republican then responded, âSo for one year, people making millions of dollars would still receive these COVID-era subsidies?â
At that, Schumer accused Moreno of caring more about billionaires before disengaging and leaving the chamber, according to reports.
âI was going to ask him before he stormed out of the room because evidently he doesnât want to hear any opposing views or actually engage in meaningful negotiation ⌠Would he continue 0 dollar premiums, which we know for a FACT, have enormous levels of fraud,â Moreno said.
âIf he had stayed, I would have asked him a third question: Does he want these monies to go directly to insurance companies?â
President Donald Trump appeared to gain some leverage in the ongoing government funding standoff Thursday after Senate Democrats sought to link a funding deal to an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies.
What began as an effort by Democrats to pressure Republicans during the shutdown negotiations has shifted in Trumpâs favor, following a new proposal he unveiled on Truth Social.
In his post, the president announced a plan to redirect hundreds of billions of dollars in Obamacare subsidy payments from insurance companies to direct payments for American citizens.
âI am recommending to Senate Republicans that the Hundreds of Billions of Dollars currently being sent to money sucking Insurance Companies in order to save the bad Healthcare provided by ObamaCare, BE SENT DIRECTLY TO THE PEOPLE SO THAT THEY CAN PURCHASE THEIR OWN, MUCH BETTER, HEALTHCARE, and have money left over,â Trump wrote.
âIn other words, take from the BIG, BAD Insurance Companies, give it to the people, and terminate, per Dollar spent, the worst Healthcare anywhere in the World, ObamaCare. Unrelated, we must still terminate the Filibuster!â he added.
Conservative commentators lauded the proposal as âgenius,â noting that the former president has effectively recast himself as an advocate for direct-to-consumer healthcare freedom. They said the plan reframes the debate as âhealthcare for the peopleâ versus the Democratsâ defense of âbig insurance.â
Shortly after Trumpâs post, Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) announced that he was working on legislation to turn the proposal into reality.
âTotally agree, @POTUS! Iâm writing the bill right now,â Scott said. âWe must stop taxpayer money from going to insurance companies and instead give it directly to Americans in HSA-style accounts and let them buy the health care they want. This will increase competition & drive down costs.â
