Weekly Newsletter: The bipartisan group led by Representatives Gottheimer, Ciscomani, Kiggans, and Gray is trying to answer that question the right way. Now they need to know they do not stand alone.
After more than seven weeks, the longest government shutdown in American history is finally over. But the shutdown began over a dispute about extending COVID-era Affordable Care Act premium tax credits, and that dispute is still unresolved. So, with another potential shutdown looming at the end of January, Washington now has a choice: write a real bipartisan health care bill that can pass, or stage another empty show vote that does nothing to lower anyone’s costs.
Today, a brave bipartisan group of House members chose the first path. Our friend, and No Labels National Leader, Rep. Josh Gottheimer, along with Representatives Juan Ciscomani, Jen Kiggans, Adam Gray, and 23 other Democrats and Republicans, sent a letter to Senate leaders with an urgent request: include both House Democrats and Republicans in writing the health care bill that will get a vote in December, so it can win 60 votes in the Senate and then pass the House.
Their aim is simple and serious. They want a genuine two-party, bicameral process that produces a bill which actually becomes law and keeps people’s health insurance costs from spiking in 2026. Their letter should not be necessary at all, but it is — because Democratic leaders appear eager to put forward a health care proposal that has no shot of winning Republican votes. It would be a show vote that accomplishes nothing, other than providing fodder for partisan campaign ads.
If they take that route, instead of the path proposed by Rep. Gottheimer, the shutdown will have been for nothing.
The government only reopened because a small group of Democratic senators and representatives were willing to defy intense pressure from their own party and vote to turn the lights back on. For that, they were attacked as having “caved” and “capitulated,” and some activists even called for them to be thrown out of office.
It is an upside-down world when the people who vote to reopen the government and feed hungry kids are the villains and the ones who keep the lights off are called heroes.
These Democrats knew exactly what they were risking. They have watched nearly thirty years of shutdowns where politicians in both parties tried to use closed government as leverage for some big demand and failed every time. As our chart below shows, shutdowns hurt people, and they do not work.
As part of the agreement to end this shutdown, Senator Thune promised a December vote on legislation involving ACA subsidies and the premium tax credits that help millions of Americans afford coverage. That tees up the current choice before Congress: Do we want a real bipartisan solution, or a messaging bill?
The bipartisan group led by Representatives Gottheimer, Ciscomani, Kiggans, and Gray is trying to answer that question the right way. Now they need to know they do not stand alone.
We hope you will help them make their case by contacting your representative today. Tell them you expect a serious bipartisan, bicameral bill on the ACA premium tax credits that can actually pass through Congress, and urge them to join the Gottheimer–Ciscomani–Kiggans–Gray letter calling on Senate leaders to include both Republican and Democratic House members in the negotiations – not another shutdown threat or empty show vote.
The question that matters for the future of the Democratic Party and quite possibly for the future of democracy in America, is what kind of Democrat can win Pennsylvania. As it happens, we already know the answer. His name is Josh Shapiro.
Anarchy is in the air. Alex Soros celebrated the New York mayoral result by tweeting, “The American dream continues!” His father’s Open Society Foundations have a history of funding anarchy-producing criminal-justice reforms and antipolice movements. Some American dream.
This Veterans Day, a landmark Gallup–With Honor survey reveals a striking truth: Despite our divisions, Americans continue to hold veterans in high esteem. They trust us to lead with integrity, to put the country over party, and to bridge what divides us; precisely the qualities our democracy needs most right now.
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