{"id":1603545,"date":"2025-10-24T15:05:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T19:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1603545"},"modified":"2025-10-24T15:05:00","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T19:05:00","slug":"white-house-stands-firm-against-obamacare-as-shutdown-drags-into-fourth-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/white-house-stands-firm-against-obamacare-as-shutdown-drags-into-fourth-week\/1603545\/","title":{"rendered":"White House Stands Firm Against Obamacare As Shutdown Drags Into Fourth Week"},"content":{"rendered":"

White House Stands Firm Against Obamacare As Shutdown Drags Into Fourth Week<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

As the government shutdown enters its 24th day with no end in sight, White House Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair says the Trump administration has no intention of backing down <\/strong>on the dispute at the heart of the impasse: the expiring enhanced Obamacare premium tax credits.<\/strong><\/p>\n

President Donald Trump at the White House on Oct. 14.\u00a0Photo: Stefani Reynolds\/Bloomberg<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

In an interview with Punchbowl News<\/em><\/a> on Thursday, Blair – who oversees legislative, political and public affairs for President Trump – framed the credits as \u201csubsidies to insurance companies<\/strong>,\u201d signaling that the administration is unwilling to negotiate on their extension.<\/p>\n

“These insurance subsidies, and to be clear, these are subsidies to insurance companies<\/strong>,” Blair said. “They don\u2019t actually go to people<\/strong>. They\u2019ve been artificially masking the cost of premiums<\/strong>. OK? They put these in during the Covid era.\u2026 [Democrats] voted not once, but twice, to make this program temporary that we\u2019re now discussing and for them to expire.”<\/p>\n

Blair accused Democrats of creating “a sideshow” around the subsidies<\/strong> \u201cbecause they don\u2019t want to admit there\u2019s bigger issues that they\u2019re not focused on,\u201d and said it was Democrats who \u201cset up this ticking time bomb to begin with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Republicans in Congress have long struggled to come up with an alternative to Obamacare for 15 years – however Blair suggested Trump intends to reopen that debate<\/strong>, saying the administration will push for a \u201cbroader overhaul\u201d of health policy once the government reopens.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not just talking about Obamacare<\/strong>,\u201d Blair said. \u201cWe\u2019re not even talking about the repeal of Obamacare. We\u2019re talking about making health care more affordable<\/strong>.\u2026 The president wants to make life affordable for people, he wants to make health care affordable for people. He\u2019s been talking about this for years.\u2026 [O]pen the government. Let\u2019s find a solution. Let\u2019s figure out what we\u2019re going to do together, but you have to open the government.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

According to Blair, the White House also plans to enlist pharmaceutical companies to \u201ccome to the table\u201d to help reduce prescription-drug costs<\/strong>. Some Republicans are urging their leadership to use the party-line budget reconciliation process as the vehicle for such a health-care package, though Senate GOP leaders have shown little enthusiasm for what they call a \u201cReconciliation 2.0\u201d effort.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s Political Operation Gears Up for 2026<\/h2>\n

Blair also discussed the president\u2019s plans for the 2026 midterm cycle. He said Trump will draw from his own political war chest – hundreds of millions of dollars in available funds – to bolster Republican candidates<\/strong> and has already begun covertly spending in races across the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very important for the president that Republicans keep control of the House and Senate<\/strong>,\u201d Blair said, pointing to what he called favorable \u201cmacro markers of the political environment,\u201d including voter registration and polling trends.<\/p>\n

Blair cited improvement in Sen. John Cornyn\u2019s (R-TX) numbers ahead of a competitive primary and called Rep. Wesley Hunt\u2019s entry into the Senate race a \u201cwild card.\u201d Trump, he said, would spend his own money \u201cif it\u2019s absolutely necessary\u201d<\/strong> to keep the seat in Republican hands.<\/p>\n

He also rejected skepticism from Indiana GOP leaders who doubt the legislature can pass a redistricting plan, saying, \u201cI think we\u2019ll see how Indiana continues to evolve, but I don\u2019t think that\u2019s a correct assessment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shutdown Stalemate Deepens<\/h2>\n

Meanwhile, Congress remains at a standstill as the shutdown enters its fourth week<\/strong>. The Senate adjourned until Monday, virtually guaranteeing another lost weekend of negotiations.<\/p>\n

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) is considering votes next week on narrow measures to fund military pay and air-traffic-control operations in an effort to pressure Democrats. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has refused to bring the House back until Democrats agree to broader government-funding terms.<\/strong><\/p>\n

On Thursday, Senate Democrats blocked a bill from Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) that would have paid federal employees working without pay, arguing it would give the White House too much discretion. A Democratic alternative from Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) also failed.<\/p>\n

Thune said he was open to combining the proposals but blamed Democrats for prolonging the impasse. \u201cI can\u2019t explain the level of dysfunction on their side right now,<\/strong>\u201d he said. \u201cBut they\u2019re consistently shifting their messaging, which, to me, suggests they really don\u2019t know how to get out of this right now.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n

A Johnson spokesperson said the senator \u201cwill work diligently and in good faith to find agreement between the two sides in order to pay federal workers during the shutdown.\u201d<\/p>\n

Political Fallout and the 2026 Landscape<\/h2>\n

The standoff is already reshaping political calculations heading into 2026. Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock of Georgia joined Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) in voting for Johnson\u2019s bill – making them the only Democrats to back it.<\/p>\n

Ossoff, viewed as one of the most vulnerable Democrats facing reelection, cited the impact on Georgia\u2019s large federal workforce and major installations, including Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.<\/p>\n

Republicans seized on his record. \u201cJon Ossoff could\u2019ve easily voted to reopen the government and pay Georgia workers any of the 12 times he voted to keep it closed,\u201d said NRSC spokesperson Nick Puglia.<\/p>\n

Warnock defended the Democratic position, arguing Republicans are \u201cholding federal workers hostage.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nFri, 10\/24\/2025 – 11:05<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200bhttps:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/political\/white-house-stands-firm-against-obamacare-subsidies-shutdown-drags-fourth-week<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

White House Stands Firm Against Obamacare As Shutdown Drags Into Fourth Week As the government shutdown enters its 24th day with no end in sight,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1603546,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1603545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1603545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1603545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1603545\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1603546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1603545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1603545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1603545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}