by Rex Huppke
If President Donald Trump told congressional Republicans to make a deal with the Democrats to end the shutdown, they would do it in a heartbeat.
Pending that order from Trump for a deal that would protect people from dramatic jumps in health care costs, Republican lawmakers will continue to do absolutely nothing. Their fealty to the president has made them supine. Republicans control both houses of Congress, but they are less a governing body and more a rubber stamp that Trump wields when the mood strikes him.
House Speaker Mike Johnson won’t even call lawmakers back into session, a choice that nicely highlights GOP uselessness. And Senate Republicans are doing nothing to negotiate with Democrats or address their more-than-reasonable concerns about Affordable Care Act subsidies poised to disappear in December and bring an associated spike in insurance premiums.
REPUBLICANS WILL DO NOTHING ON GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN UNLESS TRUMP TELLS THEM TO
While the Trump administration fires thousands of furloughed federal workers, a dodgy and likely illegal tactic, the mopes who control Congress act oblivious.
Asked on Oct. 13 about Trump wiping out almost the entire staff at the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, Johnson bravely said: “I haven’t seen the specifics of that and I don’t know.”
The House speaker doesn’t know about the administration going around Congress and axing a slew of important federal employees? What are you even doing here, Mikey?
An Oct. 3 KFF Health Tracking Poll found that “three-quarters (78%) of adults say Congress should extend the enhanced tax credits for people who buy their own insurance through the ACA Marketplace.”
DEMOCRATS ARE USING THE ONLY LEVERAGE THEY HAVE TO FIGHT HEALTH INSURANCE COSTS
With full Republican control of the government, the federal funding bill is the only leverage Democrats have to address potentially devastating increases in health insurance costs. Cynthia Cox, director of KFF’s Program on the ACA, told NPR: “On average, we’re expecting premium payments by enrollees to increase by 114% if these enhanced tax credits expire.” Republican North Dakota Insurance Commissioner Jon Godfread, head of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, told North Dakota ABC affiliate WDAY that someone currently paying $800 a month on the ACA health insurance exchange could see that cost jump to nearly $2,000 a month if the subsidies go away.
Affordable Care Act open enrollment starts Nov. 1, so the clock is very much ticking on this issue.
In fact, that bill made health insurance accessibility via Medicare, Medicaid and the ACA more difficult.
DEMOCRATS CAN’T NEGOTIATE WITH REPUBLICANS, WHO WILL ONLY LISTEN TO TRUMP
Even more remarkable is the fact that Republican voters will bear the brunt of the insurance price increases Democrats are trying to stop. As KFF reported Oct. 3: “States won by Trump in 2024 have received more ACA premium tax credits, and had more enrollment growth, since the subsidies were expanded. This year, 18.7 million (77%) of the total 24.3 million ACA Marketplace enrollees live in states President Trump won in the 2024 election.”
GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN PAIN WILL GROW ALONG WITH HEALTH INSURANCE COSTS
This will likely be the week Americans start to feel the impact of the federal shutdown. The Wall Street Journal reported that “the strain is deepening for contractors, such as the housekeepers and cement operators, who perform work for the government but aren’t guaranteed back wages; airports that rely on federal staff working without pay to keep travel safe; executives planning without government economic data; entrepreneurs unable to secure small-business loans; and consumers unable to close on mortgages without federal flood insurance.”
So as the pain comes, remember that Republicans are doing nothing to stop it or to address the bipartisan health insurance issues Democrats want to negotiate. As this drags on until ACA open enrollment begins, voters are going to get a shocking look at what GOP intransigence has cost them. And GOP lawmakers might get a better sense of how dumb it is to sit back and slavishly obey President Trump.
Courtesy by USA TODAY
