Senator Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) said Sunday that Republicans’ hypothetical commitment to hold a vote by the end of the year on increasing health care subsidies would not be enough to win Democratic support for a GOP proposal to reopen the government.
In an interview on NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” Kelly called for “real conversations” and solutions to expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies, which are expected to raise health insurance premiums for millions of Americans.
When Kelly was asked if he would support a deal that secures a GOP commitment to hold a vote on subsidies by the end of the year in exchange for Democrats’ support for his funding proposal, he said, “Not right now, no.”
“We need a real conversation and we need solutions. We need to fix this for the American people,” he said, not just “a few votes with no sure outcome.”
“For so many people, their health care is going downhill, and if we don’t fix it, it’s going to go right up the slope,” he said.
Kelly suggested that as long as all players sit together in a room for legitimate conversation, the issue would not be difficult to resolve.
“Now, the thing is: The President has indicated that he wants to do something about this. And he wants the government to remain open,” Kelly said. “Okay, we want to fix it, and we want the government to be open. So why is there a problem here?”
“And that would require getting everybody in the room for an extended period of time and coming to some reasonable conclusion. This is not one of those cases where you have people who want different outcomes. The president has said he is interested in increasing these subsidies.”
