By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Today is Columbus Day, a federal holiday. Congress returns to debate tomorrow to see if agreement can be reached to re-open the federal government.
Eastern Kansas Congressman Derek Schmidt, a Republican, says the stance of the top Democrat in the House to reject a proposed one-year extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies complicated things.
“Well, I think it’s a mistake and this apparent decision to ramp up rather than toning down the conflict I think is unhelpful,” Schmidt tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post.
Democrats have held out and held up efforts to reopen government, stating they want Republican concessions on health care. Top House Democrat, Hakeem Jeffries of New York, called laughable the proposal to extend subsidies for one year.
Schmidt says Democrats have taken a different tact after agreeing to legislation that would give budget negotiators an extra seven weeks to finalize budget bills.
“So we did exactly what Hakeem and others wanted, we thought, they said, and then things melted down when (the) minority party in the Senate said heck no, we’re not doing that,” Schmidt says “And now, leader Jefferies has sort of upped the rhetoric and upped the ante and turned it into more of an all or nothing fight.”
Schmidt says the issue is in the hands of the Senate where Republicans will have to secure enough Democratic votes to meet a 60-vote threshold to pass legislation.
Schmidt asserts great progress was underway in approving the 12 bills that make up the federal budget and would like to get back to that work.
“I at least and I think most of my colleagues would like to get passed this so-called shutdown fight, which appears to me to be all a political fight, and back to the policy discussions,” Schmidt says. “And I hope that this doesn’t taint the well for continuing collaboration going forward.”
Some Republicans seem to be considering the idea of extending the ACA credits.
Schmidt opposes extending the credits, but.
“I think there’s probably support for doing something with the ACA credits,” Schmidt says. “My own view has long been that they’re bad public policy, but they’re bad public policy that people have come to rely upon. And so, just abruptly ending them is probably not the best option. Rather, some reforms and maybe a phase out over time makes a lot more sense.”
You can follow Brent on X @GBrentKFEQ
