The chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee has created a draft plan to end the partial government shutdown that would push a short-term funding measure while preserving space for healthcare negotiations after federal operations resume.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said Monday she has been circulating a "discussion draft" of a plan that would involve GOP leadership commitments on a bipartisan deal on the Affordable Care Act and full-year appropriations bills, Punchbowl News reported Tuesday.
Collins' deal offers negotiators breathing room to reconcile broader budget fights. The idea is to reopen the government first, then settle on Democrats' contentious healthcare demands.
"There are a lot of informal discussions, but so far there's no product, so we have the discussion draft," Collins said, according to CNBC. She said her draft "suggests that there be a conversation on the ACA extension … after we reopen government."
"I do think we need an extension, but we also need some reforms, such as a cap on how much income you can earn, and that is totally feasible to do right after we finish keeping government open," Collins said, according to the Maine Morning Star.
"But we should not have issues that are very complicated that split the Senate attached to the continuing resolution because all that's going to do is prolong the shutdown."
Most Democratic senators have refused to vote for any funding legislation unless it codifies an extension of the ACA subsidies, which are set to expire at the end of the year. Among the exceptions is Collins' Maine colleague, Sen. Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats.
King voted all five times for the continuing resolution that passed the House on Sept. 19. Another Maine lawmaker, Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, was the only Democrat to vote for the House-passed CR.
Republicans like Collins, however, insist that conversations over the subsidies should occur after the government reopens.
GOP leadership has favored a "clean" continuing resolution — meaning no add-ons or mandate concessions — that the House passed, and Collins' plan hews to that approach.
But she also must navigate tension within her party. Some Republicans seek to force Democrats to either break or accept steep cuts, while moderates want to avoid alienating swing votes.
At the heart of the shutdown standoff are the Democrats' demands to extend or restore enhanced ACA premium tax credits and to roll back Medicaid cuts tied to the GOP's One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Democrats have argued that without such extensions, premiums could spike substantially.
Republicans reject folding those demands into the CR, saying policy is separate from funding.
Collins has publicly warned that Democrats' insistence on including healthcare riders now will only "prolong the shutdown." Her draft envisions delaying healthcare talks until the government is reopened — a strategy that mirrors the position of Senate GOP leadership and President Donald Trump.
Should the impasse persist, Collins' proposal acknowledges the escalating fallout. Federal workers might be furloughed or laid off, agencies would remain in limbo, and reputational blame would mount.
In Maine alone, an estimated 11,000 federal workers already face uncertainty, the Portland Press Herald reported.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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