Democratic Senator Peter Welch admitted on the Senate floor that Obamacare failed to lower costs while Democrats keep the government closed over a short-term subsidy extension, and Republicans say they have offered clean funding bills to reopen the government that only a few Democrats will support.
Sen. Welch stepped into a spotlight he did not intend to brighten when he defended his party’s shutdown stance and then acknowledged a key problem with the law they champion. Republicans have been pressing for a simple funding resolution to reopen agencies, arguing the shutdown is unnecessary and politically motivated.
“I owe you an answer on why it is I’m standing here today asking to extend something that was temporary,” Welch . “Here’s the reason.”
“We did fail to bring down the cost of health care.” That line, spoken on the Senate floor, is a tough admission from a Democrat who voted to preserve the Affordable Care Act. It undercuts the party’s insistence that extending subsidies is a rescue mission rather than a political demand.
‘Only three Democrats have crossed the aisle.’
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Republicans have repeatedly offered clean continuing resolutions that mirror current spending levels and would reopen the government without extra riders. Those proposals have been blocked not because of funding details, but because Democrats insist on attaching an extension of Obamacare subsidies and a sweeping spending package that would reverse recent policy changes.
Senate GOP leaders keep pointing to the practical choice at hand: reopen government now and debate policy later. Yet under Senate rules, Democrats can keep the shutdown going with a simple refusal to vote, and they’ve used that leverage to pursue their preferred priorities.
Because of the 60-vote cloture threshold, only a handful of Democrats breaking ranks can keep the government closed far longer than caucus numbers alone would suggest. That’s why the fact that only three Democrats have voted with Republicans to reopen matters so much in practical terms — it keeps negotiations gridlocked and forces the GOP to consider procedural options.
One of the consequences of the stalemate is renewed talk of changing Senate rules to bypass the filibuster for funding bills. Former President Trump has pressed Senate leaders to move aggressively and use the majority to end the impasse, arguing that simple majority votes should suffice to fund essential services.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune and others who favor institutional norms push back, warning that eliminating the filibuster would upend long-standing Senate practice. Republicans are split between preserving tradition and using every tool available to reopen government and limit Democratic policy gains tied to the shutdown.
At the heart of the fight is a political calculation: Democrats insist that extending subsidies is a moral and policy necessity, while Republicans view it as leverage to extract concessions and to force a vote on spending priorities. That clash of tactics has counted more than the substance of the subsidy debate itself.
Amid this, lawmakers and staff watch agencies strain under partial closures and millions of Americans face delays or uncertainty because Congress won’t agree on straightforward funding. Republicans argue the responsible move is to end the shutdown now with a clean bill and settle policy fights in regular order rather than shutting down the country to win a negotiating edge.
Images from the original coverage are retained below to illustrate the scene in Washington and on the Senate floor.
