Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Sunday that he was in favor of the Senate voting to reopen the federal government but that he would not negotiate with Senate Democrats on their plan to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies while the government was still shuttered.
“I’m willing to vote to open the government up tomorrow,” Graham told NBC News’ “Meet the Press.” “To my Democratic friends: I am not going to vote to extend these subsidies.”
“Let’s have a rational discussion, but not with the government shut down. It’s up to you. If you want to keep it shut down, fine. It’s not going to change how I approach health care,” the South Carolina senator added.
Graham’s comments come on the 12th day of the government shutdown, as hundreds of thousands of federal workers remain furloughed and critical government services are operating with no staff or at lower-than-usual staffing numbers.
The shutdown continues as the Senate is at an impasse over whether to pass a temporary government funding measure.
The chamber has voted multiple times over the last two weeks on a stopgap funding measure backed by GOP leadership that has already passed in the House and would keep the government funded at previous levels through Nov. 21. Not enough Democrats have voted with Republicans to overcome the 60-vote threshold to pass that bill.
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Meanwhile, Democrats have proposed a temporary funding measure that would keep the government open through Oct. 31. That continuing resolution would also reverse Medicaid cuts passed by Republicans earlier this year and would extend subsidies for the Affordable Care Act that are set to expire at the end of the year.
Graham said Sunday that negotiating a potential extension of subsidies while the government was shut down was a nonstarter for him, referring to the 2018-19 government shutdown, where Republicans and President Donald Trump tried to force Democrats to pass funding for a border wall.
“You know, we shut the government down for 35 days, Republicans trying to force the Democrats to build the border wall,” Graham told “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker. “Well, we eventually got the wall built, but not because we shut down the government.”
“The subsidies we’re talking about here,” Graham added, “if the Affordable Care Act is so affordable, why, every time I turn around, are we spending $350 billion to keep it afloat?”
Meanwhile, Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., earlier in the program blasted Republicans for refusing to negotiate with Democrats, saying Trump had only spoken to Democratic leaders for an hour about the ACA subsidies.
“I think it’s important for all Americans to know that this fight right now over this government shutdown is about one thing. It’s about the cost of their health care,” Kelly said. “Tens of millions of people — actually, about 19 million people get their health care off the Affordable Care Act, and their rates are going to go up dramatically, and it’s going to become unaffordable.”
“The president has negotiated for one hour, as far as we can tell, and Republicans in the House, they’ve been gone for four weeks. And John Thune, the majority leader in the Senate, sent people home for four days,” Kelly added.
He noted that the House passed the stopgap funding measure on Sept. 19 and has not returned to Washington since then. On Friday, Speaker Mike Johnson told House lawmakers that he was extending their district work period for at least another week, through mid-October.
Asked whether Democrats would vote to reopen the government if Republicans promised to hold a vote on extending ACA subsidies once the government reopens, Kelly firmly said, “No.”
“Not right now, no,” the Arizona senator said. “We need a real negotiation, and we need a fix. We need this corrected for the American people. This is for so many people — their health care is running towards a cliff, and if we don’t fix this, it’s going to go right over it.”
Kelly added that in order for Democrats to reopen the government, they would need assurances that Republicans wouldn’t just hold a vote on extending subsidies, but that both sides could agree on what an extension would look like.
“Having some vote without an assured outcome” wasn’t the solution, Kelly said.
“All this is going to take is putting everybody in a room for an extended period of time and coming up to some reasonable conclusion,” he added.
In separate interviews later on Fox News, Johnson and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries dug in to their party's stances on the government shutdown.
Johnson accused Democrats of not wanting to negotiate on health care subsidies, saying Democrats are “eating up the clock” because Republicans “had always been counting on using these four weeks in October to finish up those discussions.”
Meanwhile, Jeffries explained why Democrats are adamant that the subsidies need to be extended now, rather than closer to their expiration date at the end of the year.
“Open enrollment starts on November 1st,” Jeffries said. “Tens of millions of Americans are receiving notices right now that their premiums, copays and deductibles are about to explode, which is why we need to address it. Even [GOP Rep.] Marjorie Taylor Greene agrees that we have to address this health insurance crisis right now.”
Johnson also responded to Greene's concerns about health care, as Greene, R-Ga., she has criticized her party's reluctance to engage on the issue in recent days.
"I had a thoughtful conversation with my friend Marjorie Taylor Greene on the phone the other night, a couple nights ago to inform her that there are many Republicans in Congress that have been working around the clock on this," Johnson told Fox News.
