After the Senate passed a stopgap funding bill that does not include extended Affordable Care Act tax credits, U.S. Senator Michael Bennet is not confident that a future floor vote in the Senate will lead to an extension.

“I don’t have confidence about how that vote is going to turn out,” Bennet said in a press call Tuesday. “I don’t expect any Republicans in the Senate to change their vote, and I don’t expect the House to try to pass that bill. We could end up being surprised by that, but I wouldn’t hold out hope for that.”

Image

The U.S. Senate voted 60-40 Monday on a stopgap spending bill that will reopen and fund the federal government through Jan. 30 following the longest shutdown in U.S. history. Members of the House of Representatives began traveling back to Washington, D.C. this week, as the chamber will need to pass the Senate-approved measure before the government will reopen.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune promised Democrats a floor vote on an extension of the tax credits will occur in December, part of a deal struck with seven Democrats and one independent to advance the spending bill, despite it not including an extension of enhanced premium tax credits to support Americans who purchase health insurance through the individual marketplace.

The enhanced premium tax credits implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic were initially set to expire in 2022, but Congress extended and expanded them with the Inflation Reduction Act. In the absence of those enhanced federal subsidies, the average cost to purchase health insurance through Connect for Health Colorado, the state’s individual marketplace, will more than double next year.

Bennet and U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper, both Colorado Democrats, voted against the measure because it “did nothing” to extend the tax credits expiring at the end of the year, Bennet said. He said he thinks the Democrats who voted to pass the stopgap measure made a judgement that the downsides of continuing the shutdown overrode the benefits.

“I obviously didn’t share that judgment, but that was their judgment,” Bennet said.

Image

While he is “deeply disappointed” with the outcome in the Senate, Bennet, who is running for Colorado governor in 2026, said he will continue to push for an extension of the tax credits as well as broader reform of the country’s health care system. He is “recommitted more than ever” to advocating for a universal health care system in the U.S.

The shutdown was not a waste of time because “fighting for Americans’ health care is not a waste of time,” Bennet said. But he said there is no plan B to help Coloradans facing higher insurance premium costs.

“For months, we urged President (Donald) Trump and Republicans to come to the table and extend the tax credits — which are already existing law and simply need to be extended — to give families a little bit breathing room, to make healthcare a little bit more affordable, and they’ve refused,” Bennet said.

Bennet declined to say if he still supports Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who has faced calls from progressive groups and some Democratic House members to step down from leadership after failing to hold his caucus together in the shutdown fight.

Americans will make the judgement that Democrats continue to fight for affordable healthcare while Republicans make it more expensive, Bennet said, as Republicans have fought against the Affordable Care Act since it was first introduced.

“We now know that we will never have an improved health care system as long as Donald Trump is our president and we have a majority of Republicans in the House and the Senate,” Bennet said.

Many major federal government operations have been shut down since Oct. 1. The Trump administration laid off many federal workers during the shutdown, a move that will be reversed under the Senate-approved measure. Bennet said his office will work to reach out and make sure workers who were laid off in Colorado know that they could be reinstated.