WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Fort Worth, said Wednesday he hasn’t heard from his Republican colleagues as the federal government shutdown drags into a second week and the public braces for growing pain.
“Let’s pray that we get the government reopened for all of the federal employees out there that are concerned about how they’re going to make their mortgages and put food on the table,” Veasey said during a podcast he co-hosts.
Republicans say there’s an easy way for the shutdown to end immediately: Senate Democrats can vote for legislation the House approved last month to fund the government through mid-November.
Democrats have balked at doing so without including two significant health care moves.
They want a rollback of Medicaid changes adopted as part of President Donald Trump’s signature Big Beautiful Bill and an extension of soon-to-expire enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies.
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Republican leaders say they welcome a health care policy discussion but won’t start negotiations until Democrats agree to end the shutdown and to keep illegal immigrants’ health care out of the discussion.
Texans have stuck to their party lines in the stalemate.
All of the state’s U.S. House Republicans voted for their party’s stopgap proposal to keep current funding levels in place without addressing the Medicaid or ACA proposals from Democrats.
All Texas Democrats voted against that bill.
U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, both Texas Republicans, have supported the House bill and voted against Senate Democrats’ proposal to include the health care changes.
Both sides have been making their case to the public in interviews and across social media.
“This shutdown will end when Democrats decide they are willing to re-open the government,” Cruz posted on X. “The American people do not want free taxpayer healthcare for illegal aliens.”
Republicans say Democrats’ desire to provide health insurance to people in the country illegally is reflected in their proposal to roll back changes to Medicaid included in the GOP tax overhaul enacted over the summer, known as the Big Beautiful Bill.
“We are now on day 8 of the Democrats continuing to hold hardworking Americans hostage by playing games and continuing the Democrat shutdown in an attempt to spend your hard-earned money on criminal illegal aliens,” U.S. Rep. Beth Van Duyne, R-Irving, posted on X.
Proponents of the GOP Medicaid changes describe them as barring people in the country illegally from accessing the program, which represents a partnership between states and the federal government.
KFF Health News noted immigrants in the country illegally are “largely ineligible for the federally funded health care programs Medicare and Medicaid, and they cannot seek coverage in the Affordable Care Act marketplace or apply for subsidies.”
The latest proposal from Democrats to fund the government would not change that, although Democrats want to restore access to some legal immigrants excluded under the GOP tax overhaul, according to KFF.
Hospitals also are required under federal law to provide emergency care to people regardless of their insurance or immigration status. The Republican tax bill reduced how much hospitals are reimbursed through Medicaid for providing emergency care to immigrants in the country illegally.
Veasey accused Republicans of pushing the “immigration scare button” and putting at risk Americans’ access to health care, particularly in rural areas.
“We support a full bipartisan funding bill that opens government up and wards off what I think would be really a health care crisis Republicans would create if they were to go ahead and do things the way that they want to,” Veasey said on the podcast.
U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Dallas, has said Republicans shut the government down to avoid protecting the ACA tax credits and noted how premiums in Texas could jump if the credits are allowed to expire.
“Families shouldn’t have to pay the price for their political games,” Crockett posted on X.
Federal government shutdowns typically have limited immediate impact on the public because essential workers are expected to continue showing up to work and many functions such as Social Security checks and Medicare benefits continue.
The pain is likely to grow as federal workers begin missing paychecks and some of those essential workers opt to take other jobs or simply skip work.
Air travel disruptions are usually a significant pain point, as unpaid air traffic controllers and TSA agents don’t show up for their scheduled shifts.
Lawmakers on both sides have invoked the federal workers and military personnel who will miss paychecks if the shutdown continues.
U.S. Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Frisco, highlighted soldiers deployed to the Middle East who could miss paychecks next week if the government is still shut down.
“The Democrats’ shutdown is a slap in the face to our brave servicemembers abroad,” Fallon posted Wednesday on X.
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