U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet said he doesn’t believe Congress will approve an extension of expiring health care subsidies, even if a promised vote on the issue in the Senate takes place next month. 

Bennet, during a call on Tuesday with reporters, lamented Democrats’ failed effort to force congressional Republicans to extend the subsidies as part of a deal to reopen the federal government. 

Most Democrats in the Senate had been holding up a government funding bill for over 40 days in a bid to win over enough Republicans who would agree to renew the subsidies, known as the enhanced premium tax credit. The tax credits, first passed under Democrats during the COVID-19 pandemic, helped lower premiums for insurance plans purchased on Affordable Care Act marketplaces. 

While many Democrats, including Bennet, appeared ready to push the stalemate longer, a critical cohort of senators broke ranks with their party on Sunday and agreed to a deal with Republicans to pass a government funding bill without the tax credits. After passing the Senate and House, President Trump signed the bill on Wednesday, putting an end to the shutdown.

“I’m deeply disappointed,” Bennet said of the agreement, which included a promise from Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, to hold a separate vote on extending the subsidies no later than the second week of December. 

The subsidies are slated to lapse on Dec. 31. 

Bennet is not optimistic about the vote, pointing out that Republicans on Monday already voted down an amendment to the funding bill that would’ve extended the tax credits for one year. The vote was 53-47 along party lines. 

Republicans hold majorities in both chambers of Congress. 

“I don’t expect any Republicans in the Senate to change their vote, and I don’t expect the House to try to pass that bill,” Bennet said. “We could end up being surprised by that, but I wouldn’t hold out hope for that.” 

Some Democrats saw the government funding bill as their only vehicle for ensuring the tax credits continue. Without those subsidies, insurance premiums on Affordable Care Act marketplaces are set to rise next year. 

Connect for Health Colorado, the state’s Affordable Care Act Marketplace, announced in late October that average premiums would double in 2026, with cost increases potentially being even higher for rural Coloradans. 

Open enrollment for those insurance plans began on Nov. 1 and will last through Jan. 15. Bennet said it does not appear that there is a “Plan B” to restore the subsidies. 

“There really isn’t one,” Bennet said. “It’s a tragedy, and it’s a completely predictable tragedy.” 

Some support for the measure has emerged in the House, where a small coalition of Republicans and Democrats is proposing a two-year extension coupled with income caps and fraud-reducing measures. U.S. Rep. Jeff Hurd, a Grand Junction Republican representing Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, is one of the lawmakers backing that proposal. 

But it’s unclear whether that measure would pass in the Republican-controlled House, and House Speaker Mike Johnson has not committed to bringing a bill on extending the tax credits to a vote. 

Republicans blasted Democrats throughout the shutdown, which became the longest in U.S. history and resulted in air-travel disruptions, lapses in food benefits and other upheaval across federal agencies and programs. 

A Republican social media account managed by the party’s national committee posted a video on X of Colorado’s other Democratic senator, John Hickenlooper, telling a CNN reporter that he felt the shutdown “was worth it.” 

Hickenlooper said the shutdown put the health care issue in the spotlight. The Republican social media account called his comments “disgusting,” adding that the shutdown “put our most vulnerable at risk and deprived Americans of their paychecks and benefits for weeks.”

Asked if he felt the shutdown was a waste of time, Bennet said, “Fighting for Americans’ health care is not a waste of time, it’s never a waste of time.” 

He said the issue is not just about extending the tax credits, but reforming the country’s health care system. 

“There is a lifetime’s amount of work to be done here to continue to fight to make sure that we have a health care system that treats health care in this country like it is a human right, which I believe it is,” Bennet said. 

Despite not getting what they wanted most, Democrats did see some of their other priorities met under the deal struck with Republicans. 

That includes full funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, through the end of the fiscal year, which runs through next September. Most programs under the funding deal, which is a stopgap measure, are only funded through Jan. 30. The deal also reverses any mass federal layoffs that have happened since the shutdown began on Oct. 1. 

Bennet said it remains to be seen how the layoff provision will be rolled out, adding that it is critical for Coloradans to know if they are eligible to be rehired. 

“Our office, I think, is going to have to figure out how to reach out to those people and make sure they know the possibility of being reinstated is a possibility for them,” Bennet said.