Senate Republicans are signaling they'll go along with extending taxpayer-funded Obamacare subsidies set to expire at year's end, but only if Democrats agree to tougher limits on abortion coverage in health insurance plans.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said there would be negotiations over extending the subsidies after the government reopens, NBC News reported Tuesday. He said one condition will be stricter rules under the Hyde Amendment, which bars most federal funding from being used for abortions.
Thune promised Democrats a vote on extending the subsidies in mid-December as part of the bipartisan compromise on the funding bill to reopen the government.
The measure passed 60–40 in the upper chamber on Monday night.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) complies with the Hyde Amendment by barring federal premium tax credits and other federal funds from paying for most abortions and by requiring separate payments for abortion coverage.
Republicans want to prohibit states from allowing ACA enrollees to obtain abortion coverage using state or other nonfederal funding.
"That's what we're going to negotiate," Thune told reporters Monday night before the Senate passed its version of a bill to end the government shutdown. "A one-year extension along the lines of what [Democrats] are suggesting, and without Hyde protections — there's just not even, doesn't even get close."
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., said Thune's proposal is a "nonstarter," when asked if Democrats would agree to stricter abortion limits in exchange for extending the ACA subsidies.
"It's a nonstarter," Shaheen told NBC News, pointing to existing guardrails on abortion funding built into the ACA.
"It's not an issue. We already dealt with that issue."
Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., a proponent of extending the subsidies, backs Thune's demand for more stringent abortion limits, as do Sens. Steve Daines, R-Mont., and Mike Lee, R-Utah.
Rounds said no Republican will vote to extend the subsidies without more stringent abortion limitations.
"That's the message that we shared with a lot of our Democratic colleagues is you can't do it under your existing framework, and you're never going to get any Republican votes," he said, according to NBC News.
"Because we believe strongly taxpayer dollars should not go to fund abortions. They have a different point of view, but it's pretty clear that Republicans are solid on that particular issue."
Shaheen, who is not seeking reelection next year, helped craft the deal on the Senate funding measure. She also sponsored legislation in January to permanently extend the ACA's enhanced premium tax credits.
Shaheen said she's open to other reforms to the enhanced ACA tax credits, such as income-based limits. But going beyond existing abortion limitations is a red line, according to NBC News.
"I don't think you're going to get Democratic votes talking about abortion," Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., told NBC News.
"But there are conversations you can have about the structure of the subsidies once you get into a negotiation. I've heard their concerns about income caps and no-premium plans."
Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, said the GOP's abortion demand seems like a smokescreen to disguise the party's unwillingness to continue the extensions first passed during the pandemic in 2021 and extended the following year.
The subsidies that limit premiums to 8.5% of an enrollee's income expire Dec. 31.
"At that point, they're just unserious about extending the ACA [funds]," Schatz told NBC News.
"Once they get into restrictions on abortion, everyone knows what that means. It means that they would like to say they're for extending ACA but that they don't have the votes to do it right now."
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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