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Democrats want to make the government shutdown about the future of the Affordable Care Act. But U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw thinks most people will see the argument for what it is.
“This is a highly wonky, unrelated issue,” he said in an interview.
Crenshaw said the ACA tax credits that Democrats say they are fighting for aren’t really part of the shutdown directly. The ACA tax credits are set to expire at the end of the year regardless of whether there is a budget deal.
He said Democrats are just trying to use the shutdown as a political tool to force Republicans to extend those tax credits.
“This is a big policy debate that shouldn’t have anything to do with keeping the government open,” Crenshaw said. “Democrats have chosen a really random issue. They are eventually just going to get pummeled for it.”
Of course, Democrats have a very different view, saying the tax credits are critical to public health.
In a meeting with health care leaders in Houston last week, U.S. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher described the loss of tax credits, along with the GOP's recent decision to tighten the requirements for Medicaid, as leading to a "worsening health care crisis."
"These cuts will hurt every American, reducing the quality and availability of health care services here in Houston and across the country," said Fletcher, a Democrat.
Crenshaw argues that the subsidies ultimately end up in the hands of insurance companies.
"The ACA has always been a giant boon to insurers," Crenshaw said.
New polling shows Democrats could have a winning issue if they can make it stick. Most Americans want Congress to extend tax credits, according to a new poll released Friday from the health care research nonprofit KFF. The survey, which was conducted from Sept. 23-29, just prior to the shutdown, showed initial public support for extending the tax credits. But A New York Times/Siena poll of registered voters conducted roughly in the same time period as the KFF poll found that most voters did not want Democrats to shut down the government.
Reporter James Osborne has more on the debate over the ACA here. And tune into the Texas Take Podcast where Crenshaw and U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, explain why they are pointing fingers at the other side over why the government shut down.
 | Jeremy Wallace, Texas politics reporter |
Who's Up, Who's Down
A daily stock market-style report on key players in Texas politics.
Up: Carlos De La Cruz.
Oh brother! Siblings in Congress? It could happen. The Republican this week filed to run for the 35th Congressional District, which includes a big piece of San Antonio’s Southside. In 2022, his sister, U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz, R-McAllen, was elected to represent the 15th Congressional District, which is centered in the Rio Grande Valley. To join her, Carlos De La Cruz has some work to do. The March 2026 GOP primary for the redrawn congressional district is already attracting a lot of other contenders, including Josh Cortez, a former legislative aide for Monica De La Cruz, and State Rep. John Lujan. And Democrats have started to file for the seat as well. If they both win in 2026, the De La Cruz siblings wouldn’t be the first pair to serve in the U.S. House at the same time. In Florida, U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart and former Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, both Republicans, represented neighboring districts near Miami for eight years through 2011.
Down: School trips to D.C.
A Texas charter school that aims to prepare students for international leadership roles was forced to cancel its annual trip to Washington, D.C. this month due to the government shutdown. The trip was planned for the school's distinguished student ambassador program, which recognizes top-performing students at the charter network of over 26,000. Students in schools across the country who had planned to attend D.C. trips, like the International Leadership of Texas charter school, have to cancel or change their plans.
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What else is going on in Texas
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Pick of the day
Photo by: Susan Barber
If there is one place where you probably shouldn’t debate a guy known as Spurs Jesus, it’s got to be San Antonio in front of a bunch of Spurs fans, right? Yet there was the city’s new mayor doing just that as part of a tumultuous first 100 days on the job in the state’s second biggest city. City hall reporter Molly Smith joins the Texas Take podcast to break down the rocky, and sometimes just weird, start to the mayor's tenure. Plus, U.S. Reps Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, and Dan Crenshaw, R-Houston, drop by to talk about the shutdown and why they are pointing fingers at the other side for being responsible. And I try to get Castro to tell us if he’s going to run for statewide office or not? Finally, reporter Scott Huddleston has the latest on the massive construction projects around the Alamo and when the dust will ever settle.
What else I'm reading
The Republican Party of Texas is set to debate censures next week of 10 Republican members of the Texas House, including the House Speaker, for a litany of grievances. One of those being targeted is Texas State Rep. Gary VanDeaver, R-New Boston, who told the Texarkana Gazette’s Mallory Wyatt that the in-fighting in the GOP is bad for party unity. “Ultimately, I hope that common sense will prevail.”
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