U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin | Photo by Shauneen Miranda/States Newsroom

WASHINGTON — A trio of Senate Democrats urged Republican lawmakers at a Tuesday press conference to extend and make permanent the enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits set to expire at the end of 2025.  

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, along with Sens. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, warned that the expiration of these credits would lead to “skyrocketing” costs for millions of enrollees unless the GOP-controlled Congress takes action. 

The credits are used by people who buy their own health insurance through the Affordable Care Act Marketplace.

Stopgap spending bill

The extension is among congressional Democrats’ broader health care demands in order to back any stopgap funding bill to avert a government shutdown before the next fiscal year begins Oct. 1. 

House GOP leadership did not negotiate with Democrats on the seven-week stopgap funding bill released on Tuesday.

Schumer, alongside House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, said in a joint statement Tuesday that “the House Republican-only spending bill fails to meet the needs of the American people and does nothing to stop the looming healthcare crisis.” 

They added that “at a time when families are already being squeezed by higher costs, Republicans refuse to stop Americans from facing double-digit hikes in their health insurance premiums.” 

At the press conference, Baldwin called for legislation she and Shaheen introduced earlier this year that would make the enhanced premium tax credits permanent to be included in the stopgap government funding bill. 

“Time is of the essence — families and businesses are planning for next year, and we need to get this done,” Baldwin said. “The only question is whether Republicans will join us and stand for lower costs for families or not.” 

Shaheen said that “as we near the deadline for government funding, I hope that our colleagues here in Congress will join us, that they will act to extend these tax credits and to keep health insurance affordable for millions of Americans.” 

Premiums expected to soar without action

The enhanced premium tax credits, established by Democrats in 2021 as part of a massive COVID-19 relief package, were extended in 2022 through the Inflation Reduction Act. They are set to expire at the end of 2025.

Premiums, on average, for enrollees would soar by more than 75% if the credits expire, according to the nonpartisan health research organization KFF. 

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Tuesday at a press conference that “Republicans have concerns” about the credits because they have no income cap and certain high-income people can qualify for them. He also said Congress has until the end of the year to decide what to do.

At the Democrats’ press conference, Schumer said President Donald Trump “has taken a meat ax to our health care system,” adding that “it’s vicious, it’s cruel, it’s mean” and pointing to some of the repercussions of the GOP’s mega tax and spending cut law on Medicaid recipients. 

Meanwhile, open enrollment begins in November, meaning Congress would have to act before the end of the calendar year to avoid premium spikes.  

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson answers reporters' questions during a press conference in the Rayburn Room inside the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025. Also pictured, from left to right, are California rancher and former president of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association Kevin Kester; Wisconsin Republican Rep. Tony Wied; Republican Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn.; and Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)

WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republican leaders released a seven-week stopgap government funding bill Tuesday that’s intended to avoid a shutdown when the new fiscal year begins Oct. 1. 

But GOP leaders opted not to negotiate the legislation with Democrats, who may be needed to approve the bill in the House and will be required to get past the Senate’s 60-vote legislative filibuster. 

Democrats for weeks have called on Republicans to address what they view as critical health care issues, including the expiration of expanded Affordable Care Act tax credits at the end of the calendar year and the effects of the GOP’s “big, beautiful” law on Medicaid recipients.

Speaker Mike Johnson said during a press conference shortly before the bill was released that he views the ACA tax credits as “a December policy issue, not a September funding issue,” even though open enrollment begins in November. 

“They don’t expire until the end of the year and so we have until the end of December to figure all that out,” Johnson said. “But I can tell you that there’s real concern. I have concerns. Republicans have concerns about those policies. 

“If you look at how much they’ve been abused, in my estimation, in some ways. There’s no income cap on it. People who make $600,000 a year get a government subsidy for their health care. I don’t think that’s going to be a popular measure when people understand how that works. There’s a relatively small number of people that are affected by it. But that policy has real problems.”

The tax credits are used by people who purchase their own health care coverage through the Affordable Care Act Marketplace.

Schumer: Republicans ‘want to shut things down’

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said during a floor speech before the bill was publicly released that GOP leaders shouldn’t expect Democrats to help them advance any legislation they didn’t negotiate in a bipartisan way. 

“They can try and play the blame game, but their actions tell a different story. Their actions show clearly they want to shut things down because they don’t want to negotiate with Democrats,” Schumer said. “And it’s more than that. It means Republicans don’t want to help the American people with the crisis they’ve created raising people’s costs, particularly their health care costs.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said the stopgap spending bill, which would keep the government running through Nov. 21, is needed to give lawmakers more time to work out final, bipartisan versions of the dozen full-year government funding bills. 

“The goal here should be to fund the government the way it was intended to be funded — through the normal appropriations process,” Thune said. 

House Appropriations Committee ranking member Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., and Senate Appropriations ranking member Patty Murray, D-Wash., issued a joint statement shortly after the bill’s release, saying they’re ready to keep working with their Republican counterparts — House Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., and Senate Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine — on a bipartisan stopgap spending bill.

“Instead of continuing to work through important issues with us on the continuing resolution and government funding to help the middle class and the working class, House Republican leadership has walked away from negotiations and are now threatening a shutdown by trying to jam through a funding bill on their terms alone,” DeLauro and Murray wrote.

Security for members of Congress

The 91-page stopgap spending bill also includes $30 million in additional funds to bolster safety and security for members of Congress following an increasingly violent year that included the killing of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk, the killing and attempted killing of Democratic state lawmakers in Minnesota as well as some of their family members and arson at the Democratic Pennsylvania governor’s mansion. 

Members of Congress, their staff and their families are subject to thousands of threats each year, according to data from the U.S. Capitol Police. 

Johnson told reporters shortly after his press conference that he views the member security funding as a start and that there will be “more to come” in the full-year Legislative Branch funding bill.

Johnson said he expects the House will vote on the stopgap bill before Friday, when both chambers of Congress are set to leave on a week-long break for the Rosh Hashanah holiday week. 

Lawmakers aren’t expected to return to Capitol Hill until Sept. 29, with just hours to avoid a partial government shutdown if they cannot approve a stopgap bill in the days ahead.

The legislation includes an additional $30 million for the U.S. Marshals Service, which is responsible for the safety of federal judges and courthouses, as well as $28 million “for the protection of the Supreme Court Justices.” A GOP summary of the bill says the Marshals Service funding will go toward “Executive Branch protective services.”