Republicans can end the shutdown immediately with one simple paragraph | Opinion
We are now four weeks into the latest government shutdown with no end in sight. Why? Because President Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans voted for a trillion-dollar tax cut for billionaires and mega-corporations to be paid for by everyday Americans through the cutting of health care, school lunch programs, Cal-Fresh, Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) and many other programs that working families depend upon.
The consequences are being felt across the country. Flights are being delayed as air traffic controllers are forced to work 60-hour weeks without pay. The Small Business Administration has paused issuing and renewing flood insurance policies, leading to delays in real estate transactions and potentially devastating lapses in coverage.
At Travis Air Force Base, 19,000 service members and civilian employees will miss their paychecks, and seniors’ cost of living adjustments on their social security paychecks are delayed. Veterans and their families are waiting on G.I. Bill payments that are stuck in a “glitchy” Veterans Affairs system, unable to reach anyone for help because customer service lines are shut down.
This is not just inconvenient. It’s dangerous.
Rather than working together, House Speaker Mike Johnson has cancelled votes and refused to bring Congress back into session four weeks in a row. Is he afraid to hear from the Republican and Democratic Congress members who want the shutdown to end today?
It can end immediately if Trump and the Republican leaders would negotiate a simple, one-paragraph extension of the subsidies for health insurance premiums.
Health care costs will skyrocket
If Republicans do not come to the table, starting Nov. 1, more than 24 million Americans will see their health insurance premiums skyrocket — doubling or even quadrupling — because the subsidies that Democrats enacted in 2021 for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace health insurance policies will end.
For my constituents in Contra Costa and Solano counties, premiums are expected to go up by more than $16,500 for a family of four. Last week, my office heard from a constituent whose Kaiser premiums have already skyrocketed from $800 to $2,210 a month, leaving her and her husband scrambling to make up the difference.
When health care costs soar, fewer people can afford coverage. That means more people delaying care, facing medical bankruptcy or foregoing treatment altogether.
The impacts will be wide-ranging on the health care system: Clinics will close, and rural hospitals — already struggling — may be forced to shut down. Our entire health care system will falter.
This is nothing short of a matter of life or death for many Americans.
Congressional Democrats are fighting to prevent this. We are asking for good-faith, bipartisan negotiations to protect families’ access to affordable health care and fund the government. The current Republican plan would only fund the government for two more weeks. That means ACA insurance subsidies will still expire and insurance costs will still go up.
Democrats fight for working families
My Democratic colleagues and I are fighting to prevent a financial catastrophe for 24 million American families. We’re fighting because we believe health care is a right — not a privilege. We won’t stand by while billionaires and corporations get tax breaks and working families lose their health care.
We don’t need more pandering. We need real action to solve this Republican-made health care disaster. Americans need Trump and the Republicans to come to the table.
We refuse to be bullied by Trump, who has repeatedly called for Republicans to “shut it down” and punish federal workers, nor will we be deterred by Trump’s refusal to negotiate.
We’ve been clear about what it will take to end this shutdown: one simple paragraph in a bill to extend ACA insurance subsidies so that 24 million Americans will have health insurance that they can afford. Let’s get it done now before the increases kick in.
While millions of workers go without pay, Trump and members of Congress still receive their paychecks during a shutdown. As a sign of solidarity and good faith, I’m forgoing my paycheck and signing onto the Government Shutdown Suspension Act, which would pause congressional and presidential pay during any government shutdown.
The American people elected us to represent them in Congress, and that’s exactly what we’re doing.
I urge my Republican colleagues to begin good-faith negotiations. End the shutdown, protect affordable health care, stand up to Trump and fight for the over 1.8 million Californians who will see their health care costs skyrocket.
Rep. John Garamendi, D-Walnut Grove, represents Solano and Contra Costa counties and serves as the senior member of the House Armed Services and Transportation and Infrastructure committees.
This story was originally published October 29, 2025 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Republicans can end the shutdown immediately with one simple paragraph | Opinion."