U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, DN.Y., speak to reporters during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, on 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 for three years expanded tax credits for people who buy health insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace.
While it would normally be tough for the minority leader to arrange a floor vote, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., agreed that Democrats could introduce a health care bill of their choice in return for voting for it end the government shutdown.
Schumer urged reporters in recent days to “stay tuned” for details about the legislation while emphasizing that all Senate Democrats agree on the proposal. The three-year plan he laid out during his speech appears to be identical to the plan that House Democratic leaders pushed for in this chamber.
“Any Republican who claims to care about premium increases on January 1 has only one realistic path, and that is to support our bill for a simple, clean three-year extension,” Schumer said. “If Republicans block our bill, there will be no going back. We won’t get another chance to stop these premium spikes before they happen at the start of the new year.”
The vote will take place next Thursday, Schumer said.
The clock is ticking on the solution
Health care costs have become the focus of the national conversation in recent months, and both Democrats and Republicans in Congress have promised to find solutions. Both agree that much more time is needed for major structural changes.
The Senate committee is responsible for health policy a hearing was held On Wednesday, senators began reaching agreement to extend the expanded tax credits past their end-December expiration date. However, no bipartisan bill on the issue has yet been introduced in this chamber.
Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Chairman Bill Cassidy, R-La., said shortly after the hearing concluded that there would likely be a Republican or even bipartisan bill to counter Schumer’s bill.
“Yes, absolutely,” Cassidy said. “I would like to have a plan that both sides can vote for. But there will be a Republican plan if I have anything to do with it.”
Congress has a particularly low time frame to find a short-term solution to the expiring tax credits, which would cause the cost of ACA marketplace plans to enhance by hundreds or thousands of dollars.
Open enrollment for ACA Marketplace plans ends at different times across the country, with some states ending on December 15th. Residents of other states can enroll at different dates in January, but coverage begins later in the year. Lawmakers are expected to leave Capitol Hill for their winter break on December 19th.
A Survey published On Thursday, the nonpartisan health organization KFF showed that nearly 60% of ACA marketplace participants would not be able to cover the cost of a $300 annual premium enhance, while another 20% said they could not afford a $1,000 annual price enhance.
Gottheimer and Kiggans introduce the bipartisan House bill
At the same time as Schumer spoke on the Senate floor, a bipartisan group of House Democrats led by New Jersey Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer and Virginia Republican Rep. Jen Kiggans introduced a bill that they said could address some of the short-term problems facing ACA members.
“While we may have different opinions about the long-term solutions to reform market health care or whether there are even better and cheaper options for public health insurance, we agree on the many aspects of the short-term solutions,” Kiggans said.
The legislation — which requires a vote in the House, Senate and President Donald Trump’s signature — would expand the expanded ACA market tax credits with novel 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, which is not included in the bill, in which they would seek to make further structural changes to the entire country’s health care system.
Those bills, Kiggans said, would address hospital billing transparency, establish health savings accounts and advance the Give Kids a Chance Act “to accelerate treatment for pediatric cancer and expand access to life-saving therapies for children with rare diseases.”
Gottheimer said the group wants House leaders to submit their bill for a vote before members leave town for the two-week recess at the end of the year.
“Over the last month, families have seen their health insurance premiums increase because they purchased insurance during open enrollment because, as we all know, the expanded premium tax credits expire at the end of the year,” Gottheimer said. “That’s why millions of families will see their health insurance premiums rise by an average of 26% next year under the ACA.
“In Jersey, where we live, things could get even tougher with a 175% increase. That’s $20,000 for a family of four. And that’s why we’re all here together to try to solve this problem, do something about it and avoid a massive new tax on hard-working families,” he said.
Senators see no future in the House’s bipartisan bill
Schumer and other Senate Democrats did not appear to take the House’s bipartisan plan seriously when pressed about it during an early afternoon news conference and reporters on the floor asked whether Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., would actually put it up for a vote.
“Whatever the House’s proposals, we’ll always look at something, but I don’t even see 15 Republicans supporting it right now,” Schumer said. “Certainly one person or two or three people can say this or that. That’s not going to solve the problem.”
Schumer thought Senate Democrats’ three-year extension, which includes no income caps or other changes to the tax credits proposed by centrist Republicans, was the best path forward.
He appeared frustrated when reporters asked him why he didn’t make changes that could have persuaded at least some Republican senators to vote for the bill.
Schumer said it wasn’t worth it for Democrats to craft a bill that some Republicans might support when he doesn’t expect Speaker Johnson to introduce the bill in that chamber because “half of his caucus” has forceful opposition to the increased tax credits.
“Come on,” he said. “The fault lies there, not with us.”
- 5:35 p.mThis report has been clarified to reflect that ACA enrollment deadlines vary by state.
