Shaheen: "We need to put the shutdown behind us, end the circular firing squad"

Washington — Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat who helped facilitate the deal to end the shutdown past week, said Sunday that lawmakers request to enactment the shutdown down them arsenic they look for statement to code wellness attraction costs. 

"We request to enactment the shutdown down us, extremity the circular firing squad, and retrieve wherefore we're successful this situation," Shaheen said connected "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan." 

Shaheen said "we're successful this concern due to the fact that Donald Trump and Speaker Johnson and the Republican majorities successful the House and Senate refused to code the outgo of wellness care," adding that lawmakers request to scope statement to get a bipartisan measure to code wellness attraction costs retired of Congress.

Democrats had sought an statement to widen expiring Affordable Care Act taxation credits successful instrumentality for their votes to reopen the government. But connected the 40th time of the shutdown, 8 Senate Democrats, including Shaheen, broke ranks to reach a deal with Republicans to extremity the backing lapse, securing a committedness to clasp a ballot adjacent period connected the taxation credits, which assistance millions of Americans wage for wellness security premiums for plans purchased connected authorities exchanges. 

Now, Democrats person an opportunity, and a abbreviated timeline, to determination guardant with the authorities of their prime to code the expiring taxation credits. Exactly what that looks like, and whether it could find capable enactment to pass, remains to beryllium seen.

Shaheen said with the legislation, "we ought to beryllium capable to hold connected immoderate changes, similar capping the income of radical who person those premium taxation credits," on with seeking to basal retired fraud and maltreatment wrong the program.

"So let's absorption connected what we tin hold to," she said. "Let's look astatine what we tin get done successful the timeframe we have, and admit determination is existent urgency to get these premium taxation credits extended."

The New Hampshire Democrat, who worked with Republicans to travel to the woody to extremity the shutdown, said Democrats request to enactment with their Republican colleagues to travel up with a measure that tin find enactment successful some chambers. She said "we've been talking to our Republicans, Sen. Cassidy, passim the shutdown astir what we mightiness beryllium capable to hold to," on with House members connected some sides of the aisle. 

Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican who besides appeared connected "Face the Nation," said he's been successful communication with the White House astir a program to bring down the outgo of wellness attraction for Americans. But the program takes a antithetic approach, giving Americans wealth to assistance them offset precocious deductibles that are often a diagnostic of the lower-cost policies nether the ACA. The president has floated a akin idea. 

But Shaheen formed uncertainty connected the plan, expressing urgency to code the wellness attraction costs successful the short-term. 

"We tin enactment together, we tin widen the credits, but we astir apt can't instrumentality important reforms that Sen. Cassidy was talking astir successful the clip framework that we've got," Shaheen said. "So we request to look some successful the abbreviated word and successful the agelong word for however we code the outgo of wellness care."