Democrats' CR could cost up to $1.4 trillion, add millions to Obamacare plans

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(The Center Square) – Democrats’ plan to prevent a government shutdown could cost the federal government up to $1.4 trillion and subsidize millions of new Obamacare recipients over the next decade.

With the federal government set to run out of money by Oct. 1, Republicans are set to vote on a clean Continuing Resolution to put agency funding essentially on cruise control for seven weeks, buying lawmakers time to pass all 12 annual appropriations bills for fiscal year 2026.

Democratic leaders, however, introduced a counterproposal Wednesday that goes far beyond temporarily extending government funding. 

The laundry list of policy riders in Democrats’ four-week CR includes repealing the health care savings in Republicans’ recently-passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act and nullifying recent fiscal reforms to government-sponsored health insurance marketplaces. The bill would also permanently extend the temporary COVID-19 era expansion of Obamacare Premium Tax Credits, which are set to expire in December.

According to an estimate from the Congressional Budget Office, those three health care policy changes alone would cost roughly $662 billion over the next ten years. Reversing the health care changes in the OBBBA would cost $272 billion, while undoing Affordable Care Act marketplace changes would cost $40 billion. Permanently extending the expanded Obamacare PTC would increase the deficit by $350 billion.

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates that the entire CR would cost the government roughly $1.4 trillion between 2026-2035. CRFB President Maya MacGuineas said the bill should be “a complete non-starter.”

“Lawmakers should be focused on keeping the government open, not driving it deeper into debt,” MacGuineas stated Thursday. “It’s bad enough we are failing yet again to meet the most basic deadline in budgeting by not appropriating on time. We don’t need to add insult to injury by imposing massive new costs on our kids and grandkids.”

Democrats argue that the CR addresses cost of living concerns and protects health care. CBO has estimated that making the Obamacare PTC permanent would increase the number of people with ACA-subsidized health insurance plans by 3.8 million in 2035, while scrapping OBBBA reforms would boost the number of people with health insurance by 2.9 million.

But Republicans say health care policy should be addressed later, not through government shutdown prevention bills. Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., called the plan “a Trojan horse” in a Thursday speech to lawmakers.

“It’s not serious, and the Democrats know it,” Barrasso said. “The Democrats want a ransom payment – a ransom payment of over one trillion dollars to keep the government open for just four weeks.”