Overview

• The government entered a third day of shutdown after Senate Democrats rejected the House GOP stopgap, with the fight centered on health policy in the summer reconciliation law and expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies.
• President Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Speaker Mike Johnson assert Democrats want taxpayer-funded care for illegal immigrants, a charge Democratic leaders publicly deny.
• A National Republican Congressional Committee memo urges members to frame the standoff as Democrats prioritizing illegal immigrants, and a new NRCC ad blames Democrats for the shutdown on that basis.
• Democrats’ continuing resolution would roll back July’s Medicaid and related cuts and extend enhanced ACA subsidies, including restoring access for certain lawfully present noncitizens restricted by the GOP law.
• Independent reviews note undocumented immigrants are barred from ACA subsidies and routine Medicaid, with emergency Medicaid limited to stabilizing care; CBO reports $27 billion in emergency Medicaid spending from 2017–2023, about $18 billion federal.