As the government shutdown enters its second week, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., is taking her party’s fight for enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies to the neighboring red state of Idaho.
“If the Republican lawmakers … are not going to level with their constituents about what is at stake in this fight, I will,” Murray, who is planning a virtual press conference Thursday with Idaho Senate Minority Leader Melissa Wintrow and Idahoans who use the subsidies, told Semafor.
She added that an estimated 100,000 Idahoans will see premiums go up by an average of almost $1,000 a year when the state’s open enrollment period — the earliest in the country — begins next week.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration is trying to increase the pressure on Democrats to cave in the shutdown fight by drafting a memo arguing furloughed federal workers aren’t guaranteed backpay, a legally dubious play.