How an enduring debate over healthcare sparked a now record-long shutdown

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The government shutdown is now the longest in U.S. history. The ongoing 36-day closure has sparked disputes over a range of topics — from the separation of powers and the federal workforce, to food assistance and air traffic control.

But at the heart of the impasse is a debate about health care, specifically expiring subsidies for health insurance premiums purchased on the Affordable Care Act marketplace.

Democrats have gone all-in on their fight to preserve the subsidies, withholding votes 14 times for a Republican-backed short-term spending measure even as shutdown pain ratchets up with flight cancellations, delayed SNAP benefits and missed paychecks for federal workers.

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Though Republicans have insisted they will not negotiate on the subsidies until the government reopens, some members are calling for them to be preserved.

The stalemate has underscored the Affordable Care Act debate's lasting imprint on Washington, more than 15 years after it was signed into law. Clashes over health care have continued to animate pivotal moments in American politics, from consequential elections to paper-thin votes in Congress and even a past government shutdown in 2013.

Now the debate has stoked a record-long shutdown, just ahead of midterm elections in 2026, when health care could once again shape the results.

Why some Obamacare critics want to extend its subsidies

For more than a month, Democrats have refused to back a government funding measure without an agreement to extend subsidies for ACA marketplace plans, which expire at the end of the year.

That has left R