LEILA FADEL, HOST:
We're going to focus now on a possible compromise. On Monday, a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the House pitched an off ramp for the government shutdown. Four members of the House Problem Solvers Caucus released a framework that would extend the enhanced Obamacare subsidies at the heart of the standoff in Congress. Republican Congressman Jeff Hurd of Colorado signed on to this effort, and he joins me now. Good morning, Congressman.
JEFF HURD: Good morning, Leila. Happy to join you.
FADEL: Thank you for being back on the program. OK. So this is really the first time we're seeing a suggestion of compromise here on health care to reopen the government. What is your group proposing exactly?
HURD: So this is a bipartisan legislative framework that I'm putting forward along with my colleagues, Tom Suozzi, Josh Gottheimer and Don Bacon. It's meant to prevent a sharp rise in health insurance costs for people that are buying plans on the individual market. And what we're doing - what this legislative framework says is, let's extend the enhanced premium tax credits for two years, set reasonable income caps so that the help goes to the families that need it the most. And then we can build in some stronger guardrails so that the system is more accountable. And then Congress can use that breathing room in the next two years to work on long-term reform.
FADEL: So there's four of you. How much support does it have beyond the four of you among the two parties and also the president?
HURD: I think there is room here for a lot of support. This is an issue. I will tell you, regardless of how red or blue your district is, health care and the cost of health insurance is a top issue. So not everyone agrees that this is necessarily the right solution, but this is a framework to begin discussions. I think there's a real - I'm cautiously optimistic that we will get a lot of legislative support, and this thing could really get some momentum.
FADEL: How much does Tuesday maybe thaw things out a little bit and open a spirit of compromise? We saw that Democrats scored big wins Tuesday in swing districts where Republicans had done well in the past. And we heard President Trump there say, the shutdown hurt Republicans with voters. Do you think this will get - this atmosphere and what we saw on Tuesday might get more people willing to compromise rather than to hold ground like we've seen for five weeks?
HURD: Well, look, I'll let smarter people than me who are more familiar with Virginia, New Jersey and New York City weigh in on the specifics of those elections. But what I can tell you is that on a hill here in Washington, D.C., we're anxious to get the government back open and to start tackling the key problems that we were sent here to tackle. The people that I represent in Western and Southern Colorado are most worried about things like the cost of housing, groceries and, of course, the cost of health care.
FADEL: Yeah.
HURD: We got to get the government open to start tackling those problems. And, you know, my view is, of course, we did that in the House. We passed the clean bipartisan bill to keep the government open. The Senate needs to do its job, pass that bill as well. But I'm hopeful that we can get that done soon. I think, now that we passed the election, there's a real opportunity to get some work done, and we need to be ready to hit the ground running. And that's what I'm doing with my colleagues on the Republican side and on the Democratic side.
FADEL: And that - is that what got you to sign on to this statement? I mean, customers on Colorado's health insurance marketplace will see their premiums double on average, and tens of thousands will lose access to health care according to analysis by your state. I mean, is that what brought you to this place to sign on with Democrats and Republicans here?
HURD: Well, sure. I've also been on legislation previously that's been introduced a couple of months ago that would just do a straight extension of the enhanced premium tax credits for a year. There was bipartisan support for that as well. I think this is something that addresses some of the concerns that we've heard on the Republican side and on the Democratic side about some of the imperfections and ways that we can improve the enhanced premium tax credits and phasing out income levels. You don't want a family that's earning $800,000 necessarily getting these tax credits. We want to make sure that we have reforms verifying eligibility. We want to check death records. We want to prevent things called ghost beneficiaries where these tax credits are going to the people that are no longer existing or alive. And we want to, you know, require better notice so that people know the value of this subsidy. So there's a start of it that was a couple of months ago, but this is kind of an advancement of that issue that I think is more serious, more substantive and has a better chance of getting legislative momentum.
FADEL: What makes you more optimistic in this moment? I mean, what we've been hearing from Democrats is that they don't really trust Republicans to play ball and follow through. They don't trust that if they do negotiate, that it will be honored if it passes the Senate in the House with the president. That's something we heard from Senator Sanders. They want guarantees that whatever agreement happens is guaranteed across the board. What do you say to that?
HURD: Well, it's tough to guarantee the outcome of any vote. That's something that I haven't seen at all happen here in Congress. What I can tell you is that there's a seriousness and a willingness to commit by Republicans like myself and Don Bacon and others as well on addressing these issues. Like I said, this is not a red state or a blue state issue...
FADEL: Yeah.
HURD: ...The cost of health insurance premiums. It is something serious. If we want to really serve our constituents, we really need to tackle this problem, and this is an important start to that.
FADEL: Have there been any conversations with the president? And also, why did the Republican co-chair of the Caucus not sign on to this?
HURD: You'll have to ask Congressman Fitzpatrick about that specifically. I'll tell you that the response that we've gotten from - you know, from the White House and from leadership is, you know, there's not necessarily the criticism that you'd expect if they were completely opposing this idea. So I'm encouraged by the response that we've gotten, which is more pragmatic and, hey, let's get the government back open, and then we can start talking about this.
FADEL: Congressman Jeff Hurd, Republican of Colorado. Thank you so much for your time.
HURD: Happy to join you, Leila. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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