Democratic senators who opposed advancing a bill to reopen the government vowed to keep fighting to make health care more affordable, expressing that the promise of a vote to extend enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies isn’t enough to win them over.
“There’s no good choice, right?” Sen. John Hickenlooper lamented after voting against a procedural step toward passing a package to extend government funding through January, though he expressed the need to “stand up to this kind of strongman dictatorial approach to governing this country.”
“I voted no just because … piss off, I’m just frustrated,” he said, vowing that Democrats will “use every other tool” to extend ACA subsidies.
Though the Colorado Democrat personally opposed the negotiated package to end the shutdown, he denied that his colleagues who voted in favor of advancing the measure late Sunday were “caving.”
“They’re doing what they feel is helping the most number of people, and they’re not going to stop fighting to get those subsidies restored,” he said.
Charting the path forward for Democrats, Hickenlooper said lawmakers will now set out to write an ACA subsidies bill that would make Republicans “squirm” if they oppose it.
“Boy, they’re going to be telling all their people, ‘We really don’t care about your health care.’ And let them vote that way. There’s elections coming up in about a year, if I’m not mistaken,” he added.
Sen. Mark Kelly said he’s wary of “skyrocketing health care rates” as Americans begin to enroll in coverage under the Affordable Care Act with costly premiums.
“I’m hearing it all across my state, people who are not going to be able to afford it,” the Arizona Democrat said.
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