Jeffries pushes last-chance Obamacare subsidy plan as shutdown nears end

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., announced a long-term plan to force the House of Representatives to vote on a three-year extension of the expiration of Obamacare subsidies.

In a closed-door meeting Wednesday, Jeffries said Democrats would submit a discharge petition that, if successful, would bring the subsidies to a vote in the House over the objection of GOP leaders, giving Democrats a way to continue pursuing their shutdown demands.

“The Democratic position of the House will be the Democratic position of the House,” Jeffries said shortly after leaving the meeting. “We believe that the American people – given the Republican refusal to act and find a bipartisan path forward – should benefit from the same level of certainty that Republicans have continued to give to the rich, affluent and well-connected.”

JEFFRIES REVEALS LAST MINUTE MOVE TO EXTEND COVID-ERA SUBSIDIES AS VOTE TO SHUT DOWN HOUSE TIMES

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries speaks during a press conference at the Capitol in Washington, November 3, 2025. (Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images)

The three-year period for the proposed extension coincides with the length of President Donald Trump’s second term, which ends in 2028.

In response to the plan, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said the discharge effort was an ill-conceived attempt to breathe new life into a program that was always meant to be temporary.

“There’s a reason Democrats ended these ineffective subsidies. COVID ended — it’s time these credits to insurance companies did, too. Republicans have real solutions to lower premiums for hard-working families, and they don’t include bailing out insurance companies that raise prices,” Scalise said.

The whip also denounced the high costs of health insurance subsidized by Obamacare tax credits.

“Democrats created a health care mess with Obamacare that caused premiums to rise by 80%. Now their only solution to these skyrocketing premium increases is to bail out insurance companies with billions in taxpayer subsidies. These COVID subsidies are riddled with waste, fraud and abuse,” Scalise said.

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House Leader Steve Scalise criticized the discharge efforts. (Getty Images)

The petition, which Jeffries said Democrats would likely submit later Wednesday, would require 218 votes to pass. Democrats hold 213 seats – soon to be 214 seats with the addition of Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva.

Even so, Democrats would need help from at least four Republicans to force consideration of the subsidies.

Democrats have been pushing for the appropriations expansion since the government plunged into a government shutdown on October 1. Democrats, led by Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., have refused to consider spending legislation without first extending the subsidies in some way. Congress first passed them as an emergency response to COVID-19 in 2021.

Democrats fear that the expiration of these subsidies at the end of the year could leave millions of Obamacare policyholders with significantly higher premiums overnight.

Now that Congress appears poised to escape the shutdown — without any action on subsidies — Democrats have pulled out all the stops to propose the extension. Earlier this week, they attempted to pass it as a unanimous consent agreement. On Tuesday, Democrats submitted an extension as an amendment to legislation aimed at reopening the government.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee, said she supports the most recent attempt.

“I support a three-year extension. I was supportive — I thought it was a very reasonable thing that the Senate did, which was a one-year extension,” DeLauro said, referring to a plan Schumer presented on the Senate floor.

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Representative Rosa DeLauro speaks to the media following a press conference in front of the United States Capitol, October 15, 2025. (Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Republicans rejected the one-year extension proposal.

Rep. Melanie Stansburry, D-N.M., said Democrats increased their demands when it became clear that Republicans would not agree to a shorter deadline.

“What I can say is that the initial negotiating position of Democrats in the House and Senate was a two-year extension that was obviously rejected,” Stansbury said. “I certainly support it and I will sign it.”

In the event the discharge petition garners the necessary 218 votes, it is unclear when it will reach the hearing for consideration.

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The House of Representatives will consider funding legislation Wednesday evening that would end the ongoing 43-day shutdown.