Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., said she doesn’t think Senate Democrats will budge from their position on extending health care subsidies even after an important Nov. 1 deadline passes.
Capito on Thursday said she’s not hopeful that a change in the calendar will produce a change in the situation.
“Nov. 1 is the date insurance premiums are set to be announced, and there is speculation that would be the date the Democrats would then come to their senses, in my view, and vote to open the government,” she said. “But I don’t hold much hope on that either.”
Democrats have staked their position on extending subsidies for the Affordable Care Act set to expire at the end of the year — an issue Republicans say they will negotiate on, but only after the government is reopened, Capito said.
“Sen. (John) Thune, who is the leader in the Senate, has said publicly and to the press, on the Senate floor and to Sen. (Chuck) Schumer himself, ‘Listen, open the government and we will negotiate. Open the government and we will hold votes on the things that you want.’”
The government shutdown was in its 23rd day as of Thursday — just 12 days short of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, which lasted 35 days from December 2018 to January 2019.
While she said she doesn’t expect meaningful change to the deadlock around Nov. 1, Capito said she doesn’t think the shutdown will continue into 2026.
“I don’t think it will go until the end of the year, I really don’t,” she said. “And I don’t think it will go to Thanksgiving. But hopefully in November, early November, it will break through.”