Thune says Republicans open to conversations about Obamacare – but not tied to stopgap funding bill

By Morgan Rimmer, Arlette Saenz, Tami Luhby, CNN

(CNN) — Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Wednesday he is open to discussing enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies – a priority of Democrats’ – but insisted that those negotiations cannot be tied to a stopgap government funding bill.

“This is a program that needs reform, but I think everybody is willing to sit down and talk about how to make that happen in a context where it should be discussed, not as a hostage to keep the government open,” Thune told CNN’s Dana Bash on “Inside Politics,” adding: “This is not the time, the place to do this.”

The Republican leader’s comments come as an end-of-month funding deadline looms over Washington. And with party leaders publicly at odds in recent days, the risk of a government shutdown is growing ever more serious.

Democrats have centered their funding demands on health care. Their proposed bill included expensive health care changes, such as extending the enhanced subsidies that are set to expire at the end of the year.

Thune said he’s “happy to have the conversation,” though he said he was hoping that Democrats would “actually have a proposal.”

“What they’re talking about is a straight up extension, which as I said, cost $365 billion, has no reforms in it, and this is a program that’s desperately needed reform,” he said.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries pushing back on Thune’s comments, saying: “No one is hijacking the process Republicans decided to put forth a partisan spending bill that barely escaped out of the House and then went down in flames in the Senate, they have no solution. Republicans have no path forward. There is no viable bill.”

And the top House Democrat drew a deeper red line for Democrats later in the day, telling reporters that any agreement over the enhanced subsidies had to be included in legislation and that he would not settle for a verbal commitment.

“I have a very forward looking, positive and communicative relationship with Speaker Mike Johnson, but there’s no trust that exists between House Democrats and House Republicans at this particular point in time,” he said. “Any agreement related to protecting the health care of the American people has to be ironclad, and in legislation.”

The more generous subsidies were passed in 2021 as part of a Biden administration pandemic relief package. If they are allowed to lapse, enrollees’ premiums could skyrocket by 75%, on average, according to KFF, a nonpartisan health policy research group. Some 4.8 million more people are expected to be uninsured in 2026 if the beefed-up subsidies expire, a recent Urban Institute report found.

While Republican leaders argue they still have time, Obamacare advocates and state exchange leaders say that it’s important to pass an extension before Americans start shopping for coverage next month. Otherwise, folks could be scared off by the higher premiums and smaller subsidies, making it harder to get them to sign up for 2026 coverage even if Congress eventually acts, they say. Open enrollment starts on November 1 in nearly all states.

Permanently expanding the subsidies would cost about $350 billion over the next decade and would result in 3.8 million more people having health insurance, according to a Congressional Budget Office analysis released last week.

Republicans have argued it’s inappropriate to add such provisions to a seven-week funding bill and that they should be negotiated as part of a year-end funding bill. They point to their proposal to fund the government through November 20 as a “clean” continuing resolution, or CR. It only includes, they say, $30 million in extra security money for members of Congress, $58 million for security for the executive and judicial branch and a funding “fix” for DC to adjust a mistake in an earlier bill.

Pressed by Bash on CNN’s reporting that he, along with Johnson, had encouraged President Donald Trump to cancel a meeting set for this week with Democratic congressional leaders, Thune acknowledged that the pair had talked, but insisted the president made his own decision.

“I spoke with the president, and I offer, as I often do, my opinions, but I generally don’t share those publicly. And as I said before, the president comes to his own conclusions. He spoke, I think, with Speaker Johnson as well,” said Thune.

“I think the president came to the conclusion that it wouldn’t be a productive meeting. The Democrats’ requests are completely unhinged and unreasonable and unserious, and if they want to have a serious conversation, I think that I’m sure the president would welcome, would be happy to do that.”

Trump again Wednesday left the door open to talks with Jeffries and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, saying he looks forward to meeting if they “get serious about the future of our Nation.”

Until then, the president said he had “decided that no meeting with their Congressional Leaders could possibly be productive.”

He added later in the lengthy Truth Social post: “To the Leaders of the Democrat Party, the ball is in your court. I look forward to meeting with you when you become realistic about the things that our Country stands for. DO THE RIGHT THING!”

Wednesday morning, Schumer and Jeffries pointed to the canceled meeting as evidence of Republicans’ culpability.

“After agreeing to our demand to meet to prevent a government shutdown, Donald Trump threw an unhinged temper tantrum and canceled the meeting. By refusing to so much as meet with Democrats, Donald Trump and Republicans are barreling the country toward a painful government shutdown,” Schumer and Jeffries said in a joint statement posted to X.

Jeffries said he planned to speak with Schumer later Wednesday as the pair navigate their party’s shutdown strategy. Jeffries also said he had spoken with Johnson last week, but it was not substantive.

“We spoke briefly last week about the logistics around the government funding vote, but had no discussion about substance,” he said.

This story has been updated with additional developments.

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CNN’s Annie Grayer and Alejandra Jaramillo contributed to this report.