Overview

• The Democratic leaders sent a letter Thursday urging an immediate leadership meeting to negotiate a stopgap that prevents a lapse in federal funding after Sept. 30.
• They set health care as the key condition, seeking to reverse nearly $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts from the One Big, Beautiful Bill and to preserve enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies that KFF estimates reduce premiums by about $705 per enrollee annually.
• Schumer and Jeffries also asked Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Republican Leader John Thune to disclose whether the administration plans another rescissions package after last month’s clawbacks from USAID and public broadcasting.
• Republicans are expected to pursue a continuing resolution, but even with control of Congress and the White House they would need at least some Senate Democratic votes to pass a funding bill.
• With only three Senate appropriations bills and two House bills passed, Democrats demand bipartisan negotiations and signal they will not repeat March’s reluctant support for a GOP-drafted stopgap as GOP leaders have yet to respond.