Explainer-What do Democrats and Republicans want in the US government shutdown fight?

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By Andy Sullivan and Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -An impasse between Republican President Donald Trump and congressional Democrats has triggered the 15th U.S. government shutdown since 1981. Here is a look at what sparked the standoff, and what it will take to reopen the government.

WHAT DO DEMOCRATS WANT?

Democrats do not have much power because Trump’s Republicans control both the House of Representatives and the Senate. But Republicans need at least seven Democratic votes to pass any spending bill out of the Senate, where 60 votes are needed to advance most legislation in the 100-seat chamber. 

Democrats are using that leverage to push for continuing and expanding healthcare subsidies for people who buy insurance through the Affordable Care Act. So far, they have refused to back a government spending bill that does not address the issue.

Their proposal would make permanent enhanced tax breaks that are otherwise due to expire at the end of the year, and make them available to more middle-income households.  

If Congress does not act, health insurance costs will increase dramatically for many of the 24 million Americans who get their coverage through the ACA, according to the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. The impact would be most acute in Republican-controlled states that have not expanded the Medicaid health plan for the poor. 

Democrats also want guardrails that would prohibit Trump from unilaterally ignoring their ACA provisions or temporarily withholding funds.

Their proposal also would ensure that immigrants who are in the country legally would continue to qualify for ACA coverage. That would reverse an aspect of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that Republicans passed this summer, which excludes many legal immigrants from coverage starting in 2027.

Those changes would provide health coverage for seven million Americans by 2035 who would otherwise go uninsured, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, but also increase government healthcare spending by $662 billion over 10 years.

WOULD THE DEMOCRATS’ PROPOSAL PROVIDE GOVERNMENT-BACKED HEALTHCARE TO FOREIGN CITIZENS WHO ARE IN THE U.S. ILLEGALLY?

Republicans say the Democrats’ proposal would open up subsidized ACA coverage to people who are in the country illegally. That’s not true, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

CBO says the Democratic plan would only restore coverage to certain categories of immigrants who would lose access to the ACA due to the Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Coverage would be restored to asylum seekers, refugees, people on work visas and students.

People in the country illegally have never been eligible for ACA subsidies and coverage. That would not change under the Democrats’ proposal.

WHAT DO REPUBLICANS WANT?

Aside from their misleading rhetoric about immigration, Republicans say they are open to considering a fix for the expiring ACA tax breaks. But they say the issue should be handled separately.

They are backing a straightforward stopgap spending bill that would fund the government through November 21. It does not include any changes to ACA subsidies.

(Reporting by Andy Sullivan and Richard Cowan; editing by Scott Malone, Alistair Bell and David Gregorio)