Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he told Democrats he could guarantee a vote on Affordable Care Act subsidies by a certain date, adding that “at some point Democrats have to take yes for an answer” to end the government shutdown.
In an interview with MSNBC’s Ali Vitali, Thune repeated that Republicans are “willing to have the conversation” about health care but that discussions about Obamacare premium subsidies need “to happen in a separate context.”
Remember: Those subsidies, which help Americans pay monthly premiums, are at the center of the shutdown stalemate, with Democrats demanding an extension to them as open enrollment for Affordable Care Act plans begins in November.
The Senate majority leader said he couldn’t guarantee that the subsidies would pass in a vote, but “I can guarantee you that there will be a process and you will get a vote.” With the funds set to expire at the end of the year, however, Democrats have said Republicans have not negotiated and that there has not been a meaningful proposal to extend them.
In an interview moments later, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries did not say if he believed Democrats would be supportive of Thune’s proposal. “I haven’t confirmed that that’s an actual offer that’s been made,” Jeffries told Vitali.
Thune added in the MSNBC interview that he hoped the shutdown would not “last through Thanksgiving” and that there’s a “path forward” on these issues.