Democrats are scrambling — and failing — to salvage their last remaining leverage as the longest government shutdown in U.S. history comes to a close. After 42 days of chaos triggered entirely by the Left’s refusal to abandon demands for taxpayer-funded perks, including health care for illegal aliens, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is now making a desperate, last-ditch play to keep Obamacare on life support.
Jeffries’ move comes after Senate Democrats finally caved and joined Republicans to reopen the government without securing their wish list. Now, backed into a political corner, Jeffries is frantically trying to rewrite the bipartisan spending package at the eleventh hour.
His top demand? Extending the temporary Obamacare subsidies Democrats passed during COVID — subsidies they *themselves* scheduled to expire at the end of this year. Those “emergency” subsidies were never meant to be permanent, but Democrats now insist the country will collapse without them.
“Before the Rules Committee this evening, House Democrats will give the Republicans another opportunity to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits,” Jeffries said, pretending his last-minute amendment is some kind of selfless rescue plan. He claims Republicans have “created a healthcare crisis,” ignoring the simple fact that Democrats designed and timed the subsidy sunset.
Republicans, to their credit, recognize another endless Obamacare bailout when they see one and refuse to go along.
Democrats, however, aren’t stopping at subsidies. They’re trying to stuff the spending bill with every progressive fantasy they can imagine before the clock runs out. Among their attempted amendments:
* A ban on firing federal workers until 2029
* Protections against any cuts to Medicaid or Medicare
* Shielding numerous welfare programs from reductions
It’s a wish list straight out of a Bernie Sanders staff meeting — and nearly certain to be dead on arrival.
Still, the Left is furious that their leverage evaporated. Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA), a stalwart of the House progressive faction, angrily demanded, “What the hell is wrong with these people?” in reference to Republicans refusing to extend subsidies. Perhaps someone should remind him that spending trillions in emergency pandemic cash forever was never the deal.
Even some Republicans acknowledge that Obamacare’s looming meltdown will require attention — but not the kind of blank-check bailout Democrats want. Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ) told Fox News, “We need to deal, as Republicans, with the health care issue,” while stressing that simply propping up a failing system isn’t a solution.
Democrats insist that letting Obamacare’s temporary subsidies expire would be catastrophic. But the real disaster is the health care system Barack Obama saddled Americans with — a program so unaffordable that it now requires endless emergency cash infusions to function at all.
If Jeffries and his caucus seem panicked, it’s because they know exactly what’s coming:
The sunset of subsidies will shine a harsh spotlight on the true cost of Obamacare — and on the Left’s failed promise of “affordable” health care.
With the shutdown ending and the leverage gone, Jeffries’ eleventh-hour theatrics look less like leadership and more like political desperation.
