--- title: Inside Democrats' Strategy in Government Shutdown Fight description: Democrats say healthcare is be the battlefield, and they won't help Republicans avert a government shutdown without concessions canonical: https://time.com/7314714/congress-democrats-government-shutdown/ author: Nik Popli article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2025-09-04T20:16:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:50:08.510Z article:section: Politics og:title: Healthcare at Center of Shutdown Fight—and Democrats Say They Won't Blink og:description: Democrats say healthcare is be the battlefield, and they won't help Republicans avert a government shutdown without concessions og:url: https://time.com/7314714/congress-democrats-government-shutdown/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2c2ae33bccacaa19/6998c989c8dcb49ea4b50721/GettyImages-2233582392.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 7687 og:image:height: 4324 og:image:alt: Senators Meet For First Policy Luncheons After Returning From Summer Recess og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Healthcare at Center of Shutdown Fight—and Democrats Say They Won't Blink twitter:description: Democrats say healthcare is be the battlefield, and they won't help Republicans avert a government shutdown without concessions twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2c2ae33bccacaa19/6998c989c8dcb49ea4b50721/GettyImages-2233582392.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Healthcare at Center of Government Shutdown Fight—and Democrats Insist They Won't Blink > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: President Trump Signs ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ into Law [Watch (HLS stream): President Trump Signs ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ into Law](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/4s6HBrhu.m3u8) (1:09)  _Published 2025-07-07. President Donald Trump signed his package of tax breaks and spending cuts into law after his cajoling produced almost unanimous Republican support in Congress for the domestic priority that could cement his second-term legacy._  by [Nik Popli](https://time.com/author/nik-popli/)  ## Nik Popli Staff Writer Sep 4, 2025 8:16 PM UTC  Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer speaks to reporters following the Senate policy luncheon at the U.S. Capitol on September 3, 2025. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer speaks to reporters following the Senate policy luncheon at the U.S. Capitol on September 3, 2025. Kevin Dietsch–Getty Images  by [Nik Popli](https://time.com/author/nik-popli/)  ## Nik Popli Staff Writer Sep 4, 2025 8:16 PM UTC The last time Congress faced a deadline to extend government funding, Senate Democrats flinched, giving Republicans the votes needed to avert a government shutdown without extracting any concessions. The move angered much of the Democratic base, who had been calling for their party's leaders to aggressively fight the Trump Administration’s reshaping of the federal government. Now, with another funding deadline less than four weeks away, Democrats in Congress say they are prepared to fight back and that healthcare will be the battlefield. Party leaders have signaled that they plan to use the looming funding showdown to press for reversals of Medicaid cuts, extensions of expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies, and limits on President Donald Trump’s spending authority—even if it means shouldering the political risk if negotiations collapse. “Healthcare is a clear red line,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York told reporters on Thursday. “We will not support a partisan Republican spending bill that rips health care away from the American people.” Government funding expires at the end of the day on Sept. 30, and without action, much of the federal government would close. Republicans narrowly control both chambers of Congress but need some Democratic votes to reach the required 60-vote threshold to pass a funding bill in the Senate. Jeffries, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, and other Democrats are signaling they intend to use that leverage to reopen the fight over Trump’s domestic agenda, particularly provisions in his “one big, beautiful bill” that cut deeply into Medicaid and jeopardize subsidies under the Affordable Care Act. Together, the two policies threaten to raise costs or strip coverage from millions of Americans—and Democrats say they will not sign off on another spending bill without concessions. The tough talk coming from Democrats now is not all that different from what some of them were saying in March, just before Schumer and other Senate Democrats gave in and averted a shutdown. But some members say the party is more confident they can rally public support this time. "If Republicans want to keep the government open, they have to work with Democrats in a bipartisan way,” Schumer said Thursday on the Senate floor. “That’s the only way to get it done. But if Republicans choose to continue going at it alone, if they refuse to be reasonable, if they close the door on negotiations, then any shutdown is going to be on them. Time is short." The Medicaid reductions, enacted as part of the megabill Trump signed in July, raised eligibility thresholds, imposed new work requirements, and shifted costs back to states—changes projected to push as many as 10 million people off the program over the next decade, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. “Reducing the damage that they've done to our constituents in healthcare would be a real positive,” Delaware Senator Chris Coons, a Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, told TIME. “That would help move us forward.” “If Republicans want Democrats to provide votes to fund the Trump administration, they can start by restoring the health care that they ripped away to finance more tax handouts for billionaires,” added Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts in a [post on X](https://x.com/SenWarren/status/1961131054502195444). “This fight is about saving health care and lowering costs for millions of Americans.” But a White House official tells TIME that there will be no negotiations with Democrats over reversing health provisions that are central to the main legislative achievement of Trump’s second term so far. “Democrat threats to shut the government down over foreign aid, demands to limit the President’s power, or attempts to reverse his signature legislation are not in good faith and would not have been taken seriously by any prior Administrations—Democrat or Republican,” the official said, predicting that a short-term continuing resolution is now the likeliest outcome. “The White House is working with congressional leaders on continuing to fund the government responsibly.” Other Democrats are focusing less on Medicaid and more on shoring up subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, which helped drive record enrollment in recent years but are set to expire at the end of December. Without action, Obamacare premiums could spike just as open enrollment begins on Nov. 1\. “The loss of these tax credits will lead to the largest premium increases in almost a decade,” Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, a Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, said in a statement, warning that millions of families could be hit with sudden cost increases. A group of House Republicans has already introduced legislation to extend the subsidies, hinting at possible bipartisan ground. Coons added that Democrats also want assurances that Trump cannot simply claw back funding after Congress approves it. “We need to trust you so that when we reach an appropriations deal it sticks, and reverses the damage that’s been done,” Coons said, pointing to the President’s repeated use of rescissions to cancel spending. Last month, Trump canceled nearly $5 billion in foreign aid funds Congress had previously approved. Senator Peter Welch, Democrat of Vermont, told TIME that the maneuver was “a direct attack on Congress's authority to pass a budget” and warned that the President was daring both parties to accept that “whatever we pass he can disregard.” For Democrats, the last shutdown fight may have served as a lesson. Schumer and nine Senate Democrats broke ranks with most of their party to provide Republicans the votes to extend government funding without any concessions. Trump and Republicans spent the next few months steamrolling Democrats. Republicans pushed through a sweeping domestic package that extended tax cuts, funded Trump’s deportation initiatives and imposed new restrictions on Medicaid projected to reduce coverage for 10 million Americans over the next decade. That was followed by a $9 billion rescission targeting public broadcasting and foreign aid, and most recently, a so-called “pocket rescission” of U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) funding. That last move in particular has outraged lawmakers from both parties. Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, called it “a clear violation of the law.” “It seems like Trump wants a shutdown,” Welch says. “This pocket rescission is a direct attack on Congress’s authority to pass a budget.” Typically, the party not in power bears the brunt of the political fallout from a shutdown, but Democrats are sounding more willing to risk being blamed if it means forcing Republicans to retreat on health care and spending powers. The next four weeks will test their resolve, but also whether Trump’s bet—that Democrats will blink first—pays off again. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7314714/congress-democrats-government-shutdown/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7314714/congress-democrats-government-shutdown/"},"headline":"Healthcare at Center of Government Shutdown Fight—and Democrats Insist They Won't Blink","datePublished":"2025-09-04T20:16:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:50:08.510Z","description":"“Healthcare is a clear red line,” says House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries","url":"https://time.com/7314714/congress-democrats-government-shutdown/","keywords":["Congress","News Desk","uspoliticspolicy"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2c2ae33bccacaa19/6998c989c8dcb49ea4b50721/GettyImages-2233582392.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nik Popli","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/nik-popli/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2c2ae33bccacaa19/6998c989c8dcb49ea4b50721/GettyImages-2233582392.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Senators Meet For First Policy Luncheons After Returning From Summer Recess","caption":"Senators Meet For First Policy Luncheons After Returning From Summer Recess","creditText":"Kevin Dietsch–Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/7314714/congress-democrats-government-shutdown/","name":"Healthcare at Center of Government Shutdown Fight—and Democrats Insist They Won't Blink"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"President Trump Signs ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ into Law","description":"President Donald Trump signed his package of tax breaks and spending cuts into law after his cajoling produced almost unanimous Republican support in Congress for the domestic priority that could cement his second-term legacy.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/4s6HBrhu/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2025-07-07T16:15:24.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/4s6HBrhu.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/7314714/congress-democrats-government-shutdown/","duration":"PT1M9S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/7314714/congress-democrats-government-shutdown/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```