Clock ticks on ACA subsidies as Congress leaves for Thanksgiving
Plus: The September jobs report reveals an uneven economic outlook, House Dems unveil proposal to lower prescription drug costs and the DCCC raises almost $8M last month.
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FIRST THINGS FIRST
With the Senate leaving town this afternoon and the House following tomorrow morning, Congress won’t return until after the holiday—with just three working weeks on the legislative calendar to prevent the Affordable Care Act’s enhanced premium tax credits from expiring at the end of the year. This compressed timeline comes as millions of Americans are already in open enrollment and any lapse would mean sharp premium hikes landing squarely on lawmakers’ watch.
But Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over key federal health care programs, including the ACA, predicted millions of Americans will sit at tables on Thanksgiving unsure about how they’ll afford those skyrocketing premiums.
“I believe the Monday after Thanksgiving, they’re gonna hit the phones again,” he said. “And I believe there’ll be a new focus with members on the Republican side about how painful this is going to be.”
Raphael Warnock, the Democratic senator from Georgia and a member of the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Health, drew optimism from his constituents and the American public, whom he said understand how disastrous it would be if the tax credits expired.
“So whether my Republican colleagues are listening, listen, I don’t know. We will see,” Warnock, who also serves as the senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, told me earlier today. “But as I say on Sunday morning: The doors of the church are open. And they still have time to get religion on health care.”