Chuck Schumer acknowledges Obamacare will allow multimillionaires to enjoy taxpayer-funded subsidies

WASHINGTON, DC: Things got heated on Capitol Hill when Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) found himself pressed by freshman Senator Bernie Moreno (R-OH) over the Democrats’ plan to end the ongoing government shutdown.

It all happened when Moreno grilled Schumer about his proposal, specifically asking whether it was written down and whether it would keep Obama-era health subsidies available for millionaires. 

Bernie Moreno presses Chuck Schumer on written ACA proposal

“Is there a proposal in writing that we can read?” Senator Bernie Moreno asked. “There is a proposal that is very simple…” Chuck Schumer replied.

“Would it still have no income caps, so people who make a million, two, three million dollars a year” Moreno continued.

That’s when Schumer snapped. “We can fix that later. We care about working people, not billionaires. I yield the floor,” he said, shortly before walking out of the chamber.

Once Schumer left, Moreno summed up what had just happened. “Let me just say that clearly. People making millions of dollars would receive Biden era Covid Obamacare subsidies. You heard that right. No income cap,” Moreno declared from the Senate floor.

“So just to be clear, what you heard from the minority leader was the following. I just want to recap it for those of who might have missed. Number one, he acknowledged that the Democrats have actually not put forward a written proposal that people could look at. Number two, he acknowledged that his plan would be to allow millionaires,” he continued.

Moreno said he had planned to press Schumer further before the Democrat bolted. “I was gonna ask him before he stormed out of the room, 'cause evidently he doesn't wanna hear any opposing views or actually engage in meaningful negotiation,” Moreno said. “He wants zero-dollar premiums filled with fraud, and he wants that money going straight to the wealthiest insurance companies on the planet.”  

No progress in Senate as lawmakers push shutdown vote

Lawmakers ended their rare Saturday session at the Capitol with nothing to show and no movement toward reopening the government. The chamber is now aiming for a possible Sunday vote as senators regroup to hammer out a deal to end the 39-day funding stalemate.

Republican leaders reportedly decided against holding a Saturday vote, choosing instead to keep negotiating through the weekend. The so-called “minibus” package, which would fund Military Construction, Agriculture and the Legislative Branch for the 2026 fiscal year, is still being finalized, according to GOP sources.

Senate Republicans plan to meet over lunch on Sunday and may again take up the House-passed stopgap spending bill. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) sounded cautiously optimistic about breaking the gridlock, though he made it clear the chamber isn’t going anywhere until they do.

“The question is whether we can have everything ready to go,” Thune told reporters Saturday afternoon. “We’re getting close to having it ready.” He added that the text “has to get out and then we’ve got to hope we have the necessary votes.” Still, Thune described the late-night bipartisan talks that stretched from Friday into Saturday as “positive.”