GOP shuts down government because they want Americans to suffer

The federal government has officially shut down, after the GOP-controlled Congress failed to pass a funding bill by midnight.

And it's all because Republicans are refusing to negotiate with Democrats on extending Medicaid subsidies to keep millions of Americans from being kicked off their health care.

Expanded Medicaid subsidies Democrats passed back in 2021 will expire at the end of the year if Congress doesn't act.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says that will lead 4 million people to automatically lose their insurance coverage.

But more than that, it will make premiums skyrocket for those remaining on Affordable Care Act marketplaces, as the people who would lose coverage are on average younger and healthier. That leaves an older pool of individuals who are costlier to cover, which will lead insurers to raise premiums for everyone.

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In fact, a Kaiser Family Foundation study estimates that premiums would more than double if subsidies weren't extended.

According to the KFF:

With the enhanced tax credits in place, an individual making $28,000 will pay no more than around 1% ($325) of their annual income towards a benchmark plan. If the enhanced tax credits expire, this same individual would pay nearly 6% of their income ($1,562 annually) towards a benchmark plan in 2026. In other words, if the enhanced tax credits expire, this individual would experience an increase of $1,238 in their annual premium payments net of the tax credit.

Rather than negotiate with Democrats to prevent millions of Americans from experiencing yet more cost increases, Republicans have chosen to straight-up lie about what Democrats are asking for.

Republicans are falsely claiming that Democrats want $1 trillion to give health care to undocumented immigrants. It's absolutely false, as undocumented immigrants do not and cannot receive Medicaid subsidies. But Republicans are hoping the scary language will turn public sentiment in their favor.

“Facts are stubborn: people in the US illegally have never been eligible for Medicare, Medicaid or ACA credits. Democrats are fighting to restore health funding for the American people so out-of-pocket costs don’t soar. Republicans have no argument so all they can do is lie,” Rep. Seth Magaziner (D-RI) wrote in a post on X.

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ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos challenged House Speaker Mike Johnson on his lies in an interview on Wednesday morning.

“The Democratic proposal is designed to prevent millions of Americans from losing their health insurance, losing Medicaid coverage, or paying higher health care premiums. Why are you against that?” Stephanopoulos asked.

To which Johnson replied, “That's an absurd statement,” apparently hoping that the media would just accept his lies that Democrats are seeking health care for undocumented immigrants rather than health care for millions of low-income Americans who will lose access to insurance or see their premiums spike if Republicans don’t act.

“It's a factual statement,” Stephanopoulos replied back.

Trump, meanwhile, is going even further with the baseless lies, saying that Democrats are also seeking funding for transgender surgeries—a comment so absurd it boggles the mind that anyone would accept it as fact.

Trump is also making insane threats, saying that he will use the shutdown to punish Democrats and take away more benefits from the poorest among us.

Polls show, however, that Americans will blame Trump and Republicans more than Democrats for this current shutdown. And it’s unclear how punishing Americans further will skew public opinion in the GOP’s favor.

Democrats are making that point as they gear up for a fight.

“They are underwater across the board, and they know it,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) told MSNBC’s Chris Hayes on Tuesday night. “And that is causing them to double down in public. But it is backfiring. That is why—whether it’s a shutdown, whether it’s all of this—they want us to blink first. And we have too much to save. Protecting people is too important a task for us to give up before anything even starts.”

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