Gov. Josh Shapiro on Friday morning backed congressional Democrats’ strategy to withhold voting for any federal budget deal that doesn’t include an extension of Obamacare subsidies slated to expire this year.
In a more than hour-long interview on iHeartRadio’s The Breakfast Club, the first-term Democrat said his party members need to use whatever leverage they have while in the minority in the House and Senate.
“Why the hell should the Democrats give up their vote for nothing?” Shapiro said.
Republican lawmakers have said Democrats are forcing the government shutdown, and instead could open it by supporting a temporary budget.
But Democrats have held out in the hopes of extending the Affordable Care Act’s enhanced premium tax credits. If they expire, it’s estimated that somewhere between 3 million and 4 million enrollees could see a rise in costs.
The ongoing government shutdown has wide-ranging impacts on Pennsylvanians. Tens of thousands of federal employees in the state have been furloughed, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture has frozen Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program payments for nearly 2 million recipients statewide.
Lawmakers in Congress appear no closer to reaching a deal than they were when the shutdown began on Oct. 1.
Senate Republicans have repeatedly put funding resolutions up for doomed votes on the floor, though Pennsylvania Sens. John Fetterman, a Democrat, and Dave McCormick, a Republican, have both supported the proposal. The House has not held a session in Washington since September 19.
Fetterman is one of only two Democratic senators supporting the GOP’s plan. He’s repeatedly said he’s doing so in an attempt to end the shutdown.
“You don’t hold the government hostage,” Fetterman said in a NewsNation town hall earlier this week.