Jeffries tells ‘UpFront’ Dems aren’t budging on health care demands

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries says Dems aren’t budging in their health care demands to reopen the federal government.

“We want to enact a bipartisan spending agreement that actually meets the needs of the people of Wisconsin and the people of this great country while at the same time decisively addressing the Republican health care crisis,” Jeffries said on WISN 12’s “UpFront,” which is produced in partnership with WisPolitics-State Affairs. “We’ve said from the beginning that a bipartisan spending bill requires Republicans to sit down with Democrats to reopen the government, but unfortunately during this shutdown, Republicans have actually refused to have a conversation with us as Democrats.”

Jeffries disputed claims that Dems’ shutdown strategy isn’t working as they continue to push to extend the expanded subsidies for the Affordable Care Act that are set to expire at the end of the year.

“This is not a debatable issue,” Jeffries said as he referred to Wisconsin’s 3rd CD rep. “And Republican members of Congress, including Derrick Van Orden, are hearing from their own constituents that something needs to be done to address this issue, and unfortunately, Republicans have refused to extend these Affordable Care Act tax credits where more than 90% of the people who receive them make about $63,000 or less. This is a fight for working-class Americans in Wisconsin and throughout the country.”

Jeffries said he talked with House Speaker Mike Johnson briefly last week, adding Dems will negotiate with Republicans “any time, any place, either at the Capitol or we’ll go back to the White House.”

When asked what Democrats are willing to concede in negotiations, Jeffries said, “Everything is on the table, and as we’ve indicated as House Democrats, we look forward to considering anything that emerged from the Senate in good faith in a bipartisan way as long as it actually is designed to improve the quality of life of the American people in three areas — their health, their public safety and our economic well-being.”

Meanwhile, Van Orden wouldn’t say whether he would vote to expand Affordable Care Act subsidies if a vote came to the U.S. House.

“Let’s be crystal clear, the Democrats in the Senate have voted 14 times to shut down the government,” Van Orden told “UpFront.” “The Democrats in the Senate, including Tammy Baldwin, have voted 14 times to not send $500 million to the state of Wisconsin for rural health care infrastructure. So when Democrats say they’re in this fight for health care, they’re simply lying.

“Here’s what I support,” Van Orden said when asked again about subsidies. “I support opening up the government and letting us get back and actually talk. So I’m not going to be held hostage to these folks. This is a procedural vote. It should have been done early. All the Democrats have voted for this same package 13 times already, this continuing resolution. So open up the government, and we’ll sit down. We’ll talk about anything.”

Van Orden dismissed criticism from U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a fellow Republican, who has faulted party leaders for not adequately addressing rising health care costs during the shutdown.

“Marjorie and I are very cordial together,” Van Orden said. “We disagree on several different things.”

When asked how the shutdown will end if Senate Democrats don’t vote for the clean funding bill, Van Orden said, “It’s up to them. Over 30 days ago, the House Republicans passed a clean CR (continuing resolution). We sent it over to the Senate, and for the first time in the history of the United States, the main opposition party voted down a clean CR for political purposes, and it’s shameful.”

Marquette University Law School poll Director Charles Franklin says Wisconsin’s independent voters have the least partisan view on the government shutdown, with 63% blaming both parties in a new Marquette poll.

“When you go within the party, this is the perfect example of seeing the fault in our opponents and seeing ourselves as completely blameless or nearly completely blameless,” Franklin told “UpFront.” “It’s independents that have a little bit of a look on this.”

In the poll, just 2% of Republicans and no Dems blamed their own party for the shutdown.

“I think that because it’s not a heavy skew to one party or the other to blame, relatively even balance between those at this stage, would be hard to say that one party is dramatically suffering greater than the other party,” Franklin said. “That, of course, could change as the travel season ramps up and other potential disruptions occur.”

The poll also found 58% of Wisconsin voters support extending subsidies for the Affordable Care Act at the heart of the shutdown debate.

“But there is a party split on that, with more Republicans saying let the tax credits expire, more Democrats saying extending them,” Franklin said.See more from the show.