Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer officially unveiled Democrats’ plan for a health care vote next week, saying Thursday on the chamber floor his caucus will propose extending soon-to-expire Affordable Care Act subsidies for three years.
“This is the bill, a clean three-year extension of ACA tax credits, that Democrats will bring to the floor of the Senate for a vote next Thursday, and every single Democrat will support it,” Schumer said. “Republicans have one week to decide where they stand.”
The strategy aligns Senate Democrats with their counterparts in the House — and gives the party a message with which to hammer Republicans heading into next year’s midterms.
But the Democratic bill is guaranteed to fail. While many GOP senators say they would back a two-year extension, they’ve said income caps and other new restrictions would need to be added in order to garner sufficient Republican support.
Senate Republicans are still mulling whether or not to put up a counterproposal on health care for a vote next week. They are likely to discuss the issue during their closed-door lunch Thursday afternoon.