WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Angus King of Maine will continue to vote with Republicans to reopen the federal government despite criticizing them sharply for refusing to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies as part of a deal.
There’s no discernible endgame in sight as Congress enters the second week of a federal government shutdown. King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, voted with them on the issue in mid-September but has sided with Republicans since then. They still don’t have enough Democrats to meet the 60-vote threshold to pass legislation in the Senate.
King wavered more this week, telling reporters that he was reconsidering his vote. But he told the Bangor Daily News on Wednesday ahead of another expected roll call that he planned on voting once again to end the shutdown and avoid “a slide toward authoritarianism” under Trump, whose administration has threatened mass firings of federal workers and ending back pay.
“There is one possibility, and that is if Donald Trump decides he wants a solution to this health insurance problem, then we can get it done, because the House will do what he tells them,” he said.
King added that as Trump “learns more about the severity of the impact [of expiring tax credits], particularly in red states, he may say to the speaker, let’s fix this.”
The Republicans who have majority control in Congress believe they have the upper hand politically, as they fend off Democratic demands to quickly fund health insurance subsidies as part of any plan to end the shutdown. But Democrats have dug in, convinced that Americans are on their side in the fight to prevent the looming health care price spikes.
King said he has been talking with other members about how to end the standoff to no avail. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, has circulated a “discussion draft” to colleagues that would commit her party to negotiating over the health care credits once the shutdown is over.
It’s unclear whether that will be enough. Trump signaled he was open to negotiating with Democrats over their demands to save health care subsidies. Earlier this week, the president said that talks were already underway as he wants “great health care” for the people, only to shift his tone hours later to say the government must reopen first.
At its core, the debate is over the health care issue that has tangled Congress for years, and in particular, the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, that Trump tried, and failed, to repeal and replace during his first term at the White House.
Congress increased the federal subsidies that help people purchase private insurance policies on the Affordable Care Act exchanges during the COVID-19 pandemic. The federal aid was popular, and it boosted ACA enrollment to a record 24 million people. Those enhanced subsidies are set to expire at year’s end.
King issued a statement on Wednesday saying the credits should have been extended already but that giving Trump further power over the executive branch outweighs the risk to the Affordable Care Act.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.