Shutdown is over, but Washington's budget brawl is just getting started
The nation’s longest shutdown on record just ended — but the issues behind it remain far from resolved.Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said...
By Fox News · Fox News
The nation’s longest shutdown on record just ended — but the issues behind it remain far from resolved. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said she envisions not much will have changed by the time the government has to reevaluate its spending needs on Jan. 30. "My sense is that we would probably be in the same place on Jan. 30 as we are now," DeLauro said. When asked if that means he sees another government shutdown in the cards, Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., declined to answer. "I remain laser-focused on healthcare reform," Warnock said. LONGEST GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN IN HISTORY NEARS LIKELY END AS HOUSE MOVES ON FUNDING BILL Key Democrat demands that went unfulfilled in the 43-day shutdown standoff — coupled with an uphill climb to fund the government for the rest of 2026 — look poised to keep the possibility of another shutdown alive for now. In the shutdown, Democrats had hoped to secure an extension of COVID-era tax credit subsidies for Obamacare that had facilitated the burden of rising premiums but also dramatically expanded the program’s costs. In 2021, the government expanded federal assistance to help Obamacare policyholders pay their premiums as an emergency response to the global pandemic. With those tax credits set to expire at the end of the year, Democrats fear millions of policyholders could be left paying substantially higher premiums overnight if the subsidies are allowed to sunset. According to findings by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan fiscal policy research group, continuing the expanded credits could cost upwards of $30 billion annually. Now that the government has reopened with no concession on the subsidies , many Democrats remain skeptical Republican lawmakers will address them now or work towards overhauling healthcare costs. "I find it hard to believe that they’re serious about this," Sen. Wyden, D-Ore., said of Republican plans to address subsidy reform. "You’ve…