Any possible extension of soon-to-expire Affordable Care Act insurance subsidies will need to get 60 votes, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Tuesday as rank-and-file lawmakers close in on a deal that could reopen the government and pave the way for additional heath care talks.
Democrats have privately floated an arrangement for the Senate to hold a vote to extend the subsidies at a simple-majority threshold rather than the 60-vote margin for most legislation. Thune rejected the idea, saying there was “no way” that would happen.
“Honestly, think about what the Democrats are asking us to do here,” he told reporters. “They’re saying it’s going to take 60 just to fund the government, but we want to have a vote on a massive sort of piece of health care legislation at 51.”
Agreeing to a health care vote would be part of a larger shutdown-ending deal the rank-and-file senators are discussing. It would also include advancing a new stopgap spending bill, moving some full-year funding bills, plus holding a guaranteed vote once the government reopens on the ACA subsidies, which expire Dec. 31.
Thune said he was open to another possibility under discussion: attaching the full-year Agriculture-FDA, Military Construction-VA and Legislative Branch appropriations bills to an updated stopgap.
The terms of the health care vote are not the only sticking point. Republicans are divided over how long a temporary funding bill should run that would allow lawmakers to write new long-term spending legislation. Thune previously told POLITICO he believes the stopgap needs to go into 2026 but hasn’t ruled out a tighter timeline favored by some GOP appropriators.
Speaker Mike Johnson confirmed Tuesday he, too, wants to avoid a holiday-season jam. He is facing intense pressure from GOP hard-liners who want to push the deadline into March — if not later in the year.
“I’m not a fan of extending it to December,” Johnson said.
Thune said Monday he hopes to have a new stopgap ready to send back to the House by the end of the week. He said Tuesday that senators could work into the weekend if they are on a “glide path” to ending the 35-day shutdown.
Johnson also confirmed the House will return to Washington if the Senate passes a deal to reopen the government. He separately told House Republicans on Tuesday that the House would return “as soon as possible” after the Senate acts, according to four people granted anonymity to describe the private call. Leaders confirmed members would get 48 hours notice, the people said.
Under Thune’s best-case timeline, that would bring the House back early next week — ending what would be a seven-week recess.
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