As eight Senate Democrats broke with their party on Sunday night to vote for a Republican spending bill that would end the shutdown of the federal government but not restore the healthcare subsidies Democrats had made their central demand, the Iowa Democratic Party (IDP) was hosting its Liberty and Justice Dinner in Des Moines. The looming possibility that enough Senate Democrats were ready to provide the votes necessary to overcome a filibuster of a Republican proposal was felt at the dinner before the first person was seated.
Democrat Mark Kelly, the former astronaut who represents Arizona in the U.S. Senate, was scheduled to be one of the keynote speakers at the dinner, which is the IDP’s major annual fall fundraiser. Kelly couldn’t attend because the Senate was in session, and reports that enough Democrats were ready to vote for a spending bill had been spreading for most of the week. The other keynote speaker — Gabby Giffords, a former Democratic congressmember from Arizona, and Kelly’s wife — did deliver her scheduled speech.
Although some reports had named Kelly as a likely yes vote, he voted against the Republican proposal on Sunday night. In a videotaped message to dinner attendees, Kelly said it was frustrating to try to work on a deal to reopen the government when “one chamber of Congress isn’t even here.”
He was referring to the House of Representatives’ seven-week-long recess, during which Speaker Mike Johnson has prevented even pro forma sessions to handle administrative matters, like the swearing in of Democrat Adelita Grijalva, who won a special election in Arizona on Sept. 30. (It’s seems likely Johnson is refusing to swear in Grijalva because she has said she’ll provide the final signature needed on a discharge petition that would force the House to vote on releasing files on the late Jeffery Epstein, a pedophile, rapist, sex trafficker and longtime friend Donald Trump.)
“That’s not what our leaders should be doing when millions of Americans are being hit with unaffordable increases to their healthcare premiums,” Kelly said. “I’m frustrated too, but that’s something we can change. We saw it start to change this week in Virginia, in New Jersey and in California, by people speaking up, not checking out, by getting loud, not giving up.”
All the Democrats in the House voted against the Republican budget proposal, but it passed with just Republican votes. The continuing budget resolution was only a stopgap measure, funding the federal government through Nov. 21. The bill did not come to the floor of the Senate for a vote, because there are only 52 Republicans — one of whom, Rand Paul of Kentucky, opposes the bill — so Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, needed eight Democrats to vote for it to reach the 60-vote threshold needed to overcome a filibuster. On Sunday night, seven Democrats and Angus King, an independent from Maine who caucuses with the Democrats, voted for a revised Republican proposal. The other yes votes came from Catherine Cortez-Masto and Jacky Rosen of Nevada, Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Dick Durbin of Illinois, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Tim Kaine of Virginia.
Durbin and Shaheen announced earlier this year they will not run for reelection. None of the other senators breaking with the fellow Democrats will be up for reelection before 2028.
Democrats had staked their opposition to the Republican continuing budget resolution on the grounds that the Republican’s decision not to extend the tax credits that serve as enhanced subsidies for people who buy health insurance through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplaces will lead to massive increases for most starting next year when the subsidies expire. In statements after voting yes, the eight senators said they still supported extending the subsidies, but felt it was more important to reopen the government so federal workers would receive paychecks and SNAP benefits would restart. Republicans had rejected standalone bills to do those things during the shutdown.
(The Trump administration spent the weekend attempting to get federal court orders requiring it to immediately fully fund SNAP benefits overturned, and it demanded states that were providing SNAP benefits this month to stop doing so.)
The proposal advanced on Sunday night would fund most of the federal government at current levels through the end of January. The Department of Agriculture received a full year’s funding, meaning that if there is another shutdown at the beginning of February, SNAP benefits will continue to be paid. It would also guarantee federal employees receive backpay to cover the shutdown period (this is already required by federal law, but President Trump said several times he might refuse to honor that law) and rescind the permanent job cuts the Trump administration announced during the shutdown.
No extension of ACA subsidies is part of the Republican proposal, but Sen. Thune and other Republican leaders have offered the guarantee of a vote on a Democratic bill extending them in December. That bill, regardless of its content, will certainly fail in the Senate, and there is no guarantee the House will even bring it to the floor for a vote.
All three of the Democrats currently running for U.S. Senate spoke at the Liberty and Justice Dinner on Sunday night. Nathan Sage, state Rep. Josh Turek and state Sen. Zach Wahls all talked about the importance of affordable health care, but only Sage addressed the Senate vote during his remarks, saying he was “flustered” by reports of an imminent deal in D.C.
“Millions of Americans are going to lose their health care,” Sage, a first-time candidate and the former executive director of the Knoxville Chamber of Commerce, said. “Millions of Americans are not going to know what to do. ”
Sage went on to note the importance that issues of affordability played in the sweeping Democratic victories in last week’s elections.
“People need a life where they can actually afford the food and afford the health care they need,” he said. “And it seems like we don’t have leadership that’s willing to fight for that.”
After the dinner, both Turek and Wahls put out statements calling on Senate Democrats to stand firm against the Republican bill.
“Health care is worth fighting for,” Turek said in his statement.
“Without ACA subsidies, 125,000 Iowans will see their premiums double or triple. No one in the richest country on Earth should have to choose between health care and putting food on the table.”
“No protection for health care, no deal,” the Council Bluffs Democrat concluded.
In his first statement posted online, Wahls said, “Senate Democrats shouldn’t cave — when health care for hard working Iowa families is on the line, you fight. This is a bad deal.”
About two hours later, the Johnson County Democrat posted a video online, calling for Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York to give up his position as the minority leader, because Democrats “caved in the fight to restore critical investments in health care for over 100,000 Iowans and 20 million Americans.”
Chuck Schumer has failed us.
— Zach Wahls (@zachwahls.bsky.social) November 9, 2025 at 10:09 PM
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Sen. Schumer has not met this moment for my state or for our country, and it is time for him to step down as leader of the Senate Democrats and make way for a new generation of leaders who are willing to fight for what this party believes in.”
Wahls called Schumer’s behavior “a perfect illustration of why people no longer trust the Democratic Party.”
Nathan Sage also posted an online statement on Sunday night calling for Schumer to step aside as leader.
“More lies and failed promises from politicians who could care less [sic] about working class people. Senate Dems caved and accomplished nothing,” he wrote. “Washington is a broken machine designed for the rich and powerful. It’s time we kick it over and break it, starting with Chuck Schumer.”
Sage posted followed it up with a video message on Monday.
“Spineless, shameful bullshit. That’s what we saw last night and that’s what I think of when I see the names of the eight Senate Democrats that sold out the American people last night,” Sage began. “And Chuck Schumer, get out of here. He lacks the leadership to get the caucus in line to actually fight. He’s the most pathetic minority leader and it’s long past time for him to get the hell out of the way.”
Spineless. Shameful. Bullshit. Last night, eight Senate Democrats sold the American people out, allowing 137,000 Iowans and 21 million Americans to see their healthcare premiums skyrocket. I’m not going to mince my words: Senate Dems caved and Chuck Schumer let it happen. It’s time for him to go.
— Nathan Sage for U.S. Senate (@sageforiowa.bsky.social) November 10, 2025 at 12:29 PM
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Sage said he wasn’t surprised at Democrats giving up their stance to vote for a Republican bill.
“It’s the same status quo, it’s the same Democrats we’ve seen in Washington time and time again, and Iowans are sick and tired of it. One hundred and thirty-seven thousand Iowans and 21 million Americans are going to see their healthcare premiums skyrocket without the ACA tax credits. People are going to die because they can’t afford their healthcare and Senate Dems just caved, accomplished nothing and allowed it to happen.”
In contrast to the Democrats, Rep. Ashley Hinson, the prohibitive favorite to win the Republican nomination for the Senate seat Joni Ernst is vacating, and who voted for the original Republican budget resolution, has repeatedly said she opposes Democratic efforts to extend ACA subsidies.
“The problem here is that what they’re asking for is to just mask the cost of Obamacare, which is the ‘Unaffordable Care Act,’” Hinson said in Cedar Rapids last week. “It’s driven healthcare premiums up, and there’s no incentive on the insurance companies to actually lower premium costs.”
Since he first entered politics in 2015, President Trump has claimed he has, or will shortly have, a plan to replace Obamacare that will make healthcare cheaper and easier to access. He has never produced that plan. Republican leaders in Congress have routinely made such claims since Obamacare was passed 15 years ago. They have also not produced their plans.
