Chuck Schumer floats ‘compromise’ on Obamacare subsidies to end shutdown

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has offered Republicans a “compromise” to end the government shutdown.

In a floor speech Friday, Schumer floated a “clean, one-year extension” of Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies to be appended to a stopgap funding bill.

“After so many failed votes, it’s clear we need to try something different,” he noted. “What the Senate is doing isn’t working for either party — and isn’t working for the American people.”

“Democrats would like to see an end to the shutdown — and we want to respect Leader Thune’s desire not to negotiate on ACA until after the government reopens,” he said, flanked by members of the Senate Democratic caucus.

The Democratic leader said this was “not a negotiation” but “an extension of current law,” since Thune has expressed that the Senate GOP won’t discuss the Obamacare tax credits until after a short-term funding bill is passed.

“Let’s create a bipartisan committee,” Schumer added, “that will continue negotiations after the government reopens on reforms, ahead of next year’s enrollment period, to provide long-term certainty that health care costs will be more affordable.”

“We need Republicans to just say, ‘Yes,’” Schumer concluded.