Peter Laffin suggests voters will forget about shutdown by midterm elections

“I actually don‘t think [the shutdown is] going to make much difference at all in the upcoming midterms. And I don‘t think there were particularly any winners in this shutdown,” Laffin said on CSPAN’s Washington Journal on Sunday.

“No, I think we are going to forget about this one really quick,” Laffin added. “It was a long shutdown; there was a real pain that was inflicted, particularly in northern Virginia. And so with all the federal workers who were laid off or not getting paid, I think that helped Abigail Spanberger win her race for governor of Virginia, but beyond that, I think we are going to forget about this story pretty quick.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) led the coalition demanding a guaranteed extension of the premium tax credits initially drafted under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which were enhanced under the Biden administration amid the coronavirus pandemic. However, when eight Democratic senators defected to vote to fund the government, they did so without a deal on the tax credits.

“When it comes to the Democrats, the one-day loser of this whole thing is almost certainly Chuck Schumer. Chuck Schumer has been getting lambasted by his own party for failing to keep his caucus together, but it‘s hard to say exactly how this could have been resolved any other way,” Laffin said. “They were never going to get what they were after.”

Despite this, the tax credits remain an important issue to swing voters, according to a poll conducted in February. A Congressional Budget Office report estimated that permanently extending the enhanced credits would cost the government $383 billion. However, if these credits permanently expire, the number of people without health insurance would rise by an average of 3.8 million annually by 2034.

Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) projected that a bill addressing the ACA credit deadline—set to expire at the end of this year—could be expected in mid-December.

“We’re going to have a vote, and I believe there are a number of Republicans who are going to join us in trying to address healthcare costs for Americans,” Shaheen said. “We believe there are a lot of Republicans, including a lot of Trump supporters, who want to see us do something about this because their costs are going up.”

Without a bill to extend the deadline, ACA premium tax credits are currently set to expire on December 31.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/campaigns/congressional/3888654/peter-laffin-voters-forget-shutdown-midterms/

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