U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) is pushing a bill she introduced with U.S. Senator Patty Murray of Washington three weeks ago as a possible framework for negotiations to end the federal government shutdown.
The bill addresses the rising cost of health care that would result if the removal of federal Affordable Care Act subsidies in the Republicans’ Big Beautiful Bill were allowed to take effect, DeLauro said on Friday. She is the ranking Democrat in the U.S. House Appropriations Committee.
She said the bill also protects Congress’s power of the purse and rejects rescissions by the White House.
“What we have dealt with are the health care issues. Without question, they are the biggest drivers for the increase in cost for people today.” DeLauro said on Friday.
The congresswoman has been involved with many budget negotiations over the years. She is optimistic there might soon be movement on negotiations because notices for next year’s health insurance premiums start going out to the public on the 20th of the month.
“Unless we do something about these healthcare costs, these prices are going up. And the 10 top states where healthcare costs will increase the most are all Republican led states,” she said.
And some of her Republican colleagues, including Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, are concerned about the anticipated increase in health care costs.
“She made it very, very, personal. She talked about her kids not being able to afford what the increase in prices would be,” Delauro said about Green.
ACA premiums are expected to double for most Connecticut residents, she said.
In the meantime, there’s no indication that the White House and Congressional leaders are ready to start talking.
