WASHINGTON — (CNN) The battle over a government shutdown appears to be mostly over for now, with the push for border wall funding sidelined and Democrats saying President Donald Trump’s administration will continue paying for subsidies for low-income Americans as part of Obamacare.
Republicans announced late Wednesday night they will move forward with a short-term spending plan that will keep the government open through May 5 and give lawmakers more time to negotiate a longer-term funding package.
“We’ve made substantial progress on an agreement to complete the 2017 appropriations process,” Sen. Thad Cochran, the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said in a statement.
“Let’s pass this new continuing resolution, and make good use of this extra time to enact overdue legislation to provide for national defense and meet our country’s needs.”
The short-term funding bill is expected to be taken up by the House and Senate before the Friday deadline to keep the government open.
The border wall and the health care spending had been two sticking points for congressional and White House negotiators during the past several weeks of discussions to avert a shutdown.
White House officials told Democrats on the Hill Wednesday that the Trump administration will continue making the cost-sharing payments created under Obamacare, multiple sources tell CNN.
One Democratic source told CNN that White House chief of staff Reince Priebus is making calls to some congressional Democrats to inform them that these payments will continue.
As part of the Affordable Care Act, the federal government pays health insurers to reduce the out-of-pocket costs for low-income people trying to pay for health care. These are referred to cost-sharing reduction (CSR) payments. The payments are a major way Democrats ensured low-income people would be covered under the Affordable Care Act, but with a new Republican administration, their future is uncertain.
Democratic House Leader Nancy Pelosi spoke Tuesday with White House budget director Mick Mulvaney, telling him that the payments must be included in the spending bill, according to a senior Democratic aide familiar with the conversation. Mulvaney had indicated that, while the Trump administration had continued the CSR payments, they had not yet decided whether they would make the May payment, according to a source.
Pelosi released a statement following news that the payments would continue.
“Our major concerns in these negotiations have been about funding for the wall and uncertainty about the CSR payments crucial to the stability of the marketplaces under the Affordable Care Act,” she said in a statement. “We’ve now made progress on both of these fronts.”
She added, “More progress needs to be made on some of our priorities, and we continue to be concerned about poison pill riders that are still in this legislation.”
If the Trump administration stops making those payments, insurers could try to pull out of Obamacare immediately, leaving up to 7 million people scrambling to find new — and costlier — policies. Many insurers have said they would likely exit Obamacare completely for 2018 or hike rates substantially — by 20% or more, Anthem said Wednesday morning — if the subsidies end.
The GOP aide said that Pelosi and Mulvaney restated their positions last night, and said the Democrats highlighting this fight is a “negotiating tactic.”
“It’s not insurmountable” the aide said, but admitted the talks “are going slower than expected.”
Ryan had rejected the Democrats’ push earlier on Wednesday morning.
“We’re not doing that,” Ryan told reporters, arguing that it is an issue that is not part of the annual spending bill process.
Mulvaney told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Tuesday that Democrats had made their request on Obamacare subsidies too late in the negotiating process.
“They dropped this Obamacare bailout, these insurance company payments, about two weeks ago,” Mulvaney said. “These are things they’ve brought to the table very late.”
Insurers are desperate to get some clarity on the issue and make sure the administration continues making the payments.
But, Republicans argued that the payments are part of mandatory spending and therefore shouldn’t be part of the negotiations.
Administration officials on Tuesday also highlighted the concession of the border wall of sign of being reasonable and flexible negotiators to avoid a shutdown.
“We just thought that it would be a good first step to get these things that everybody agrees on and take that idea of a government shutdown off the table,” Mulvaney told CNN.
Priebus said Tuesday evening that Trump is “showing some reasonableness on the wall and border security” in an effort to avoid a government shutdown.
“As long as we get a significant amount of border security money for Secretary (John) Kelly to do his job between now and September and continue the conversation on more money for the physical wall itself, it’s something that the President made clear he’s willing to talk about,” Priebus told CNN and reporters from several news organizations.
In his West Wing office, Priebus touted the administration’s accomplishments in the countdown to the first 100 days of the Trump presidency. He said the President’s flexibility on funding for his signature border wall put Democrats “on their heels.” He did not address the mixed messages sent throughout the day from top administration officials about whether the President would accept a spending measure without funding for the border wall with Mexico.
“I think that, obviously, was a bit of a surprise to some of the Democrats, who now have to calculate whether or not they can fashion some fake controversy for us to fight over to shut the government down and blame us,” Priebus said.
Over the recess, Republicans and Democrats worked carefully to craft a must-pass spending bill that all parties could agree on and could be signed by the President, but the delicate negotiations have hit a few roadblocks in recent days.
The President continued to stand by his promise to build the wall Tuesday afternoon, though he did not specify when it would happen after being grilled by reporters.
“The wall’s going to get built, folks,” Trump said at the White House, when asked if he’d sign a continuing resolution without funding for his border wall. “In case anybody has any questions, the wall is going to get built.”
When asked when the wall would be built, Trump said, “Soon. We’re already preparing. We’re doing plans, we’re doing specifications, we’re doing a lot of work on the wall, and the wall is going to get built.”
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