The federal government will close early Wednesday due to debate between Republicans and Democrats, largely over strengthening Obamacare subsidies and whether some immigrants should benefit from those.
Follow CNBC’s live blog for government shutdown updates.
Republicans argue that Democrats want to provide medical care to “illegal immigrants.”
Democrats say it’s a lie.
Democrats say they are just trying to restore health insurance options available to immigrants with “legal presence” in the United States before those options are eliminated this year by President Donald Trump’s so-called “one big beautiful” tax bill.
“They want illegal aliens to come to our country and get massive medical care at the expense of everyone else, and we don’t have that,” Trump told reporters Tuesday.
“That’s… the number one reason they want to attack is to get illegal immigrant health care,” Trump said.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told CNBC’s Scoebox on Tuesday that he would like to restore taxpayer-funded benefits, American taxpayer-funded benefits, to illegal aliens.
“We’re not doing that,” Johnson added.
Democrats say Republicans will use their rhetoric about immigration to distract from the fact that millions of Americans can see far higher health insurance premiums if they don’t take action anytime soon next year.
The root of the conflict is the advanced premium tax credits available for affordable care law health plans, who qualifies them.
The often common grants that millions of Americans have relied on since 2021 have been implemented during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Tax credits reduce the cost of health insurance premiums paid by individuals and families who purchase health plans on Obamacare exchanges and expand the pool of eligible recipients.
“The enhanced tax credits increased the amount of financial support already received by ACA market registrants, creating middle-income enrollees with new eligible federal poverty guidelines for premium tax credits.”
The majority of those who received these enhanced credits are American citizens, with ACA plans doubled from 11 million to over 24 million.
But before Trump’s tax bill became law, some of the recipients were legally immigrants in the US.
A Republican lawmaker in early September pointed to an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office, saying “1.2 million illegal immigrants or non-citizens… will not receive Obamacare subsidies.”
The credits are expected to expire at the end of 2025.
Democrats argue that short-term resolutions to open the federal government for at least another seven weeks include an extension of the grant. They don’t want to wait to negotiate an extension until StopGap’s funding resolution is passed.
House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, DN.Y., said in an interview with Squawk Box that “federal law prohibits the use of taxpayer dollars to provide medical insurance to undocumented individuals.”
“It’s a law and nothing suggests that we’re trying to change that law,” he said.
But Democrats want to recover the immigrant tax credits that they “propose legally.”
These migrants include people with temporary protected status because of claims that they are refugees and have been in exile from persecution or other threats.
In addition to opposing the recovery of tax credits for immigrants with legal presence, some Republicans argue that extending premiums for all Americans is too expensive for the federal government.
“It’s going to cost hundreds of millions of dollars. I can’t afford that,” R-Md said. Rep. Andy Harris, of the group, told NBC News in July.
“It was community policy. News flash to America: Covid is over.”
According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, an extension of the grant over a decade would cost an estimated $350 billion.
