U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. they speak to reporters during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, Wednesday, December 3, 2025. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)
WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer announced Thursday that the chamber will vote next week to extend increased tax credits for three years for people who buy health insurance through the Affordable Care Act platform, although the plan seems unlikely to get the bipartisan support needed to advance.
While it would typically be hard for a minority leader to schedule a floor vote, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., agreed that Democrats could introduce a health care bill of their choice in exchange for an affirmative vote. end the government shutdown.
In recent days, Schumer told reporters to “stand by” for details on the legislation, while maintaining that all Senate Democrats were united around the proposal. The three-year plan he outlined during his speech on the floor appears identical to what Democratic leaders in the House have been pushing for.
“Any Republican who says they care about a January 1 premium increase has only one realistic path, and that is to support our simple, clean three-year extension bill,” Schumer said. “If Republicans block our bill, there will be no going back. We won’t have another chance to stop these premium spikes before they begin early in the new year.”
The vote will take place next Thursday, Schumer said.
The clock is ticking on the solution
Health care costs have come to the forefront of national discussions in recent months, with both Democrats and Republicans in Congress pledging to find solutions. Both agree that much more time is needed to make major structural changes.
Senate Health Policy Committee conducted the hearing On Wednesday, senators began to unite around extending the increased tax breaks beyond the end date at the end of December. However, a bipartisan bill on this matter has not yet been introduced in this chamber.
Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Chairman Bill Cassidy, R-La., said a GOP or even bipartisan bill opposing Schumer’s bill would likely emerge soon after the hearing ends.
“Yes, absolutely,” Cassidy said. “I’d like to have a plan that both sides can vote on. But there will be a Republican plan if I have anything to do with it.”
Congress has an especially brief window to find a short-term resolution on expiring tax credits, which would escalate the cost of ACA marketplace plans by hundreds or thousands of dollars.
Open enrollment for ACA marketplace plans ends at various times across the country, ending on December 15 in some states. Residents of other states can sign up at various times in January, but coverage begins later in the year. Lawmakers are scheduled to leave the Capitol on December 19 for the winter break.
AND a survey has been published On Thursday, the nonpartisan health advocacy group KFF found that nearly 60% of ACA marketplace enrollees couldn’t afford the cost of a $300 annual premium escalate, and an additional 20% said they couldn’t afford a $1,000 annual price escalate.
Gottheimer and Kiggans introduce a bipartisan House bill
At the same time Schumer was speaking on the Senate floor, a bipartisan group of House lawmakers led by New Jersey Republican Josh Gottheimer and Virginia Republican Jen Kiggans introduced a bill they said could address some of the short-term problems facing ACA enrollees.
“While we may have different opinions on long-term solutions to market-based health care reform or whether there are even better and cheaper options for publicly available health insurance, we agree on many aspects of short-term solutions,” Kiggans said.
The legislation — which must advance to a vote, pass the Senate and get President Donald Trump’s signature — would expand the ACA’s enhanced marketplace tax credits with modern income caps, “guardrails against waste, fraud and abuse” and an overhaul of the pharmacy benefit manager, or PBM, system, Kiggans said.
The bipartisan group of representatives would then move on to the second part of their plan, not included in the bill, in which they would try to make more structural changes to the health care system across the country.
These bills, Kiggans said, would escalate transparency in hospital billing, introduce health savings accounts and advance implementation of the Give Kids a Chance Act “to speed up treatment for childhood cancer and expand access to life-saving treatments for children with rare diseases.”
Gottheimer said the group wants House leaders to put the bill to a vote before members leave town for their two-week year-end recess.
“Last month, families saw their health insurance premiums skyrocket as they purchased coverage during open enrollment because, as we all know, the enhanced premium tax credits are set to expire at the end of the year,” Gottheimer said. “In fact, because of this, health premiums for millions of families covered by the ACA will escalate by an average of 26% next year.
“In Jersey, where we live, the situation may be even more difficult with a 175% increase. That’s $20,000 for a family of four. That’s why we’re all gathered here to try to solve this problem, do something about it and avoid a huge new tax on hard-working families,” he said.
Senators see no future in the bipartisan House bill
Schumer and other Senate Democrats didn’t take the House’s bipartisan plan seriously when pressed on it during an afternoon news conference in which they asked reporters in the room whether Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., would actually bring it to a vote.
“When it comes to House proposals, we will always consider something, but right now I don’t see even 15 Republicans supporting them,” Schumer said. “Of course one person or two or three people can say this or that. It won’t solve the problem.”
Schumer maintained that the best solution is to extend Senate Democrats’ terms for three years, which does not include income limits or other changes to tax breaks proposed by centrist Republicans.
He seemed frustrated when reporters asked him why he didn’t make changes that might have swayed at least some GOP senators to vote for the bill.
Schumer said Democrats shouldn’t prepare a bill that could be supported by a few Republicans when he doesn’t expect Speaker Johnson to introduce the bill in that chamber, given the sturdy opposition of “half of his caucus” to increased tax breaks.
“Come on,” he said. “The fault is ours, not ours.”
