Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) accused House Democrats of living in a “dream world” after House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) ruled out a one-year extension of expiring Obamacare subsidies.

“Laying out demands like that, that are unrealistic and unserious, doesn’t help anybody. It doesn’t help their cause,” Thune told the Washington Examiner on Tuesday.

Jeffries drew the red line on Day 7 of a government shutdown centered on the subsidies, with Democrats using the funding cliff as a point of leverage in talks over healthcare.

Some rank-and-file Democrats have expressed openness to a short-term extension of the enhanced subsidies, which lapse at the end of the year. But Jeffries called the idea a “nonstarter” in a Tuesday morning press conference.

“It’s a laughable proposition. It makes no sense,” Jeffries said. “The Democratic position has been clear – permanent extension, and let’s go from there.”

The idea of a permanent extension, regarded as Democrats’ opening position in negotiations with Republicans, is highly unlikely to pass with unified GOP government control.

On Tuesday morning, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) suggested there would have to be “dramatic” changes if Democrats want to reach a compromise, and GOP leadership has previously refused to offer a commitment for their extension.

“This is a very complicated issue. It’s not a simple one,” Johnson told reporters. “And as I mentioned, there’s probably 400 different ideas on the table on how to modify, change, or improve that – if it is indeed going to be extended.”

Democrats believe Thune is more open to negotiations once Congress gets past the shutdown, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) calling Johnson the “nub of the crisis” in a floor speech.

But Thune, like Johnson, has sought to temper expectations on what can get through each chamber given an ideological divide among Republicans in both chambers.

“There’s no realistic universe in which some of these things they’re demanding have any chance of happening,” Thune said of Jeffries’s shutdown comments. “He knows better than that, and he’s just playing a game, and it’s a dangerous game, because it’s starting to hurt real people.”

Schumer, who has so far been careful not to box in his caucus during negotiations, declined to answer whether he agrees with Jeffries on the one-year extension as he passed through the hallways on Tuesday.

SENATE CONFIRMS HERSCHEL WALKER AND 106 OTHER NOMINEES IN LARGEST BLOC VOTE TO DATE

Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY), the sponsor of a bill to extend the enhanced subsidies for a year, released a statement on Tuesday bucking Jeffries, signaling a possible rift between leadership and rank-and-file House Democrats.

“Republicans and Democrats both need to step up to the negotiating table. This bill isn’t perfect – I’d prefer a permanent extension, and I’d gladly settle for a multi-year one – but right now, our priority must be stopping the massive health insurance premium hikes set to hit mailboxes in less than a month,” Suozzi said in a statement, according to Punchbowl News. “We can’t afford to remain in a stalemate, each side waiting for the other to blink.”

In total, a dozen Democrats have signed on to the one-year extension legislation.

, 2025-10-07 23:32:00, , Washington Examiner, %%https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/cropped-favicon.png?w=32, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/feed/, David Sivak