Top Democrats in House of Representatives vow to oppose govt shutdown bill over healthcare funding
Democrats have said that their demand of extending tax credits for Affordable Care Act health plans, which were created under former President Joe Biden and are set to expire by December 31, hasn’t been met with any guarantees.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., talks to reporters a day before a House vote to reopen the government at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo)
After the stalemate over the federal government’s spending bill ended in the US Senate and the bill passed with a 60-40 vote in favour, paving a way to end the longest government shutdown in US history, the legislation has now moved to the House of Representatives where top Democrats have vowed to oppose the bill for not acknowledging their demands for more healthcare funding, The Guardian reported.
The lower chamber of the Congress is expected to take up the bill for voting this week which deals with the funding measure. Democrats have said that their demand of extending tax credits for Affordable Care Act health plans, which were created under former President Joe Biden and are set to expire by December 31, hasn’t been met with any guarantees. The expiration of tax credit would mean premiums would skyrocket for the scheme enrollees.
Eight Democratic Senators, who favoured the GOP bill to fund the government and end the federal shutdown which began on October 1, have said that they have been assured of a voting on the Affordable Care Act in December before the expiration of tax credits. However, the splinter group still backed the spending bill that reauthorizes government funding through January, without explicitly mentioning any extension of tax credits.
Donald Trump and Republicans believe the affordability crisis in America is made up.
That’s why these extremists haven’t done a damn thing to lower the high cost of living.
The Senate passed the legislation on Monday evening, and the House of Representatives is expected to vote on it on Wednesday afternoon (local time). The House Rules Committee is poised to consider the bill on Tuesday, which would set the stage for it to be set to vote on the floor of the House on Wednesday.
Top House Democrats, including Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries who called it a “partisan Republican spending bill that continues to gut the healthcare of the American people.”
“It’s our expectation that the House will vote at some point tomorrow and House Democrats will strongly oppose any legislation that does not decisively address the Republican healthcare crisis,” Jeffries said, The Guardian reported.
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House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., talks to reporters a day before a House vote to reopen the government at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo) 
