Democrats accused of undermining health care access as shutdown drags on, says Emmer

EXCLUSIVE: The No. 3 House Republican is accusing Democrats of making a hypocritical argument in their resistance to the GOP’s federal funding bill.

The government shutdown is in its 14th day and Republicans and Democrats still cannot agree on a path forward. The Trump administration is taking steps to prevent service members from missing paychecks this week, while also beginning to lay off many federal employees amid the standoff.

Democrats have said they won’t accept any solution that doesn’t include serious concessions on health care from the GOP — but House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., argued that they themselves are harming access to health care by allowing the shutdown to continue.

“They (jeopardize health care),” Emmer told Fox News Digital, noting that some telehealth services, for example, will be left without funding during the shutdown.

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House Majority Whip Tom Emmer said Democrats, led in the House by Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, were endangering access to health care by refusing the GOP’s federal funding plan. (Annabelle Gordon/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Valérie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“We’ve made tremendous progress during the pandemic in remote care. You have all kinds of citizens who don’t live in a condensed or dense urban area, right next to a hospital, right next to a provider, they can be remote. And the telehealth option has actually made a big difference,” Emmer said. “I know that’s the case for our veterans.”

“I don’t know if the VA — (House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Mike Bost, R-Ill.) has implied that they’re going to protect this under their jurisdiction, I don’t know how — but I worry about the private providers, the hospitals. How are they going to do it if they’re not reimbursed?”

He was referring to the Acute Hospital Care At Home program, originally created during the COVID-19 pandemic. It allows health care providers to bill Medicare for telehealth appointments and in-home assistance that were previously reserved for inpatient care.

It has become a popular program among elderly or vulnerable Medicaid recipients, but the ongoing shutdown has prevented Congress from being able to extend it.

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The No. 3 House Republican is accusing Democrats of making a hypocritical argument in their resistance to the GOP’s federal funding bill. (Kelly Wilkinson/USA Today Network via Imagn Images)

The government went into shutdown almost two weeks ago, on October 1, after Senate Democrats rejected the Republican Party’s federal funding plan. Since then, they have blocked consideration of the same bill six times.

Republicans have proposed a seven-week bill extending fiscal 2025 federal funding levels through Nov. 21, called a continuing resolution (CR). It aims to give congressional negotiators more time to reach a longer-term agreement on fiscal year 2026, which began Oct. 1.

It passed the House along mostly partisan lines on September 19. But House and Senate Democrats have been largely incensed at being left out of negotiations over federal funding and are now demanding any spending deal that also includes an extension of the COVID-19 pandemic era. Enhanced Obamacare Subsidies which will expire at the end of this year.

Democrats also introduced a separate counterproposal that would completely eliminate health care reforms made under the Republican Party’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) and restore funding for NPR and PBS that the Trump administration revoked earlier this year.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., looks to an aide during a news conference at the Capitol in Washington, June 3, 2025. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

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Democrats said the proposal was aimed at rolling back Republican cuts to Medicaid. But Republicans framed it as a left-wing effort to restore federal health care funding for illegal immigrants — although Democratic leaders called that a lie.

Emmer also pointed out that this would revoke $50 billion intended for the rural hospital fund set up by OBBBA.

“The Rural Health Care Fund is a great example. I mean, right now, it’s our job, it’s the job of the representatives in their districts, to try to work with our hospitals to make sure they can access the funds,” he said.

“Because you don’t know exactly how big the impact of the shutdown will be on hospitals, providers, and ultimately consumers and patients.”