What did Republicans accuse Democrats of doing with the health care demand?

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Republicans accused Democrats of "holding the government hostage" over a partisan health care policy priority. Senate Republicans argued that Democrats were using the 60-vote cloture threshold as leverage to force through ACA subsidy extensions that Republicans opposed, rather than negotiating in good faith to reopen the government. Republicans framed the shutdown as Democrats' choice—they said Democrats could end the crisis immediately by voting for the clean continuing resolution the House had passed, but instead chose to keep hundreds of thousands of federal workers furloughed to advance a liberal policy agenda. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Democrats were willing to inflict economic pain ($15 billion per week according to Treasury Secretary Besant) to score political points before the 2026 midterms. Democrats countered that Republicans were the ones holding health care hostage, refusing to extend critical subsidies that would affect 4 million Americans just to deny Democrats a legislative win.

What did Republicans accuse Democrats of doing with the health care demand?

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