Senate Negotiators Warn ACA Tax Credit Deal Needs to Happen Quickly

A Senate group working to revive expired Affordable Care Act tax credits expects to release legislative text by the end of January. The bipartisan effort is hoping to gain critical momentum, but with the costs of premiums skyrocketing nationwide and open enrollment for many states ending Thursday, pressure to finalize a deal is mounting.

Bernie Moreno, a key player in the talks, stressed that negotiators must meet the deadline or risk missing a window for a deal altogether while leaving a meeting of the working group on Tuesday.

“We’ve got to get it done before the end of the month,” Moreno said. “Maybe it happens sooner.” He noted that other senators involved in the negotiations want to roll out something sooner.

The current plan, led by Moreno and Sen. Susan Collins, would reinstate ACA tax credits that expired at the end of 2025 and implement some reforms, including income caps and measures to combat fraud. It’s a compromise effort after multiple attempts in the House and Senate to extend the tax credits have otherwise failed.

Senators are facing a tight deadline to address the issue as open enrollment for ACA plans nears its close. Only 22.8 million Americans have enrolled in Obamacare plans so far this year, down from 24.2 million in 2025, according to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

The subsidies took center stage last year after Senate Democrats withheld their votes for government funding in an attempt to force Republicans to extend the expiring tax credits. Democrats efforts led to a 43-day shutdown, the longest in government history.

Negotiators previously said bill text could be released as soon as this week. But the Senate calendar is a key hurdle. The Senate is scheduled to be on recess next week, and the following week is likely to be consumed by government funding talks with a shutdown deadline slated for Jan. 30.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, who has been involved in the talks, said “the break next week is going to delay things a little bit” but that talks are “moving positively.”

Collins said Wednesday that meetings are actively ongoing and there is “definitely pressure to get it done,” noting similar pressure to get spending bills finalized. She added that the bill would extend open enrollment until March 1.

Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, who has been involved in the health care talks, said he has concerns. Durbin echoed Moreno, expressing urgency to try and accomplish something soon. Some Senate negotiators hope to use the clean, three-year extension that passed the House last week as a jumping-off point for their bill.

“It’s pointing toward the end of January, but that may be wishful thinking. There’s some tough, tough issues,” Durbin told reporters Wednesday. “Since the House passed the measure a week ago, I was hoping that we could capitalize on it, but we’re still not there.”

Durbin added: “There are about six or seven different topics, and each one has a question mark.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer asked Wednesday for unanimous consent for the House-passed health care bill to be passed in the upper chamber. Republican Sen. Mike Crapo objected.

The delay suggests that negotiators have yet to come to agreement over the most thorny parts of their legislation. One area that’s caused public contention is the Hyde Amendment, a long-standing measure in health bills that prevents federal funding to be used for abortion. Negotiators have repeatedly said the provision is a sticking point for both sides. Democrats said the amendment does not need to be included, while Republicans want to see the issue addressed.

President Donald Trump told House Republicans last week that members should be “flexible on Hyde.” Moreno also said that the two sides are inching closer to an agreement.

Moreno said that the question is not whether Republicans and Democrats can come to an agreement on new Hyde language but rather agreeing on a mechanism to ensure current guardrails in the law about walling off federal funding from being used for abortion care are enforced.

He stressed that tracking any instances where the current law isn’t being followed is a focus of the talks. “If that is happening, it will continue to happen, even if we don’t extend the enhanced premium tax credits. We have to recognize that,” Moreno said. “We’re working on a solution that would say, ‘Okay, rather than us having this debate, let’s actually find out what’s happening.’”

Durbin told reporters Wednesday that he has concerns about discussions over the measure.

He added, “If we get into a debate on that subject, I don’t think we’re going to be able to serve the needs of the millions of Americans who’ve seen their health insurance premiums increase.”

Trump is also expected to unveil a framework to lower health care costs later this week, he announced Tuesday during a speech in Detroit. Trump said the plan would reduce premiums for the more than 20 million Americans affected.

A number of lawmakers involved in the talks insist the president will need to be involved in order for any legislation to be successful. Sen. Peter Welch, a Democrat, said on Wednesday that he can’t predict if the end of January deadline will stick, but that he believes “there’s a path forward.”

“I do think the only way we can ultimately do it is with the president getting involved,” Welch told NOTUS.

GOP leadership is also yet to make any promises on a vote on the issue, but they’re forecasting hope that something will shake out. The bill would need 60 votes to pass in the upper chamber. Republicans have insisted they want something the majority of their conference can support, alongside a portion of Democrats.

It’s unclear how the specifics with Trump’s proposal next week could overlap with Senate ACA talks. Senate Majority Leader John Senate Majority Leader John Thune admitted on Wednesday that he is still waiting to see the specifics of Trump’s plan.

“Honestly I don’t know the particulars,” Thune said. “I kind of think I maybe know some of the generalities around it, but we’ll see when it comes out.”