Updated October 6, 2025 at 3:39 PM EDT
As the federal shutdown continues, Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen says Senate Democrats are united in their effort to extend health care subsidies for over 20 million people and limit President Trump's power.
The federal government remains shut down after the Senate failed to pass either of two dueling plans presented by Republicans and Democrats last week. Republicans' plan would fund the government for seven weeks.
The plan supported by most Senate Democrats would fund the government in exchange for extending Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies, reversing cuts to health spending under the One Big Beautiful Bill act and limiting Trump's ability to withhold funds appropriated by Congress.
In an interview with Morning Edition, Van Hollen described expiring ACA subsidies as a "ticking time bomb" that could drastically increase consumers' monthly health premiums. Most of the 24 million people who buy health insurance through ACA marketplaces rely on the subsidies, according to health policy research group KFF.
Van Hollen also said he expects his home state of Maryland, where federal workers make up more than 7 percent of the workforce, to fight the Trump administration over its decision to cancel billions of dollars in green energy funding and possibly fire many more federal employees.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the Trump administration's actions in an interview last week, saying the White House is attempting to "save money in a responsible way that respects the American taxpayer's money, especially when we are in this financial crunch right now, in the midst of a Democrat shutdown."
Speaking to NPR's Steve Inskeep, Van Hollen discussed Democrats' efforts to push back against the administration.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Steve Inskeep: I just want to remind people of the numbers. Republicans would need seven Senate Democrats in order to prevail and reopen the government. They do have three [including Sen. Angus King of Maine, who is an independent but caucuses with Democrats]. Are any more of your colleagues defecting?
Sen. Chris Van Hollen: Well, Steve, I think it's important that people understand that Democrats have voted four times to reopen the government. We want to reopen the government without giving Donald Trump a blank check to continue his lawless activities, including, by the way, taking what they called a chainsaw to federal agencies. And we want to address the issue that Donald Trump claimed to care about, which was rising costs and prices in the country. And they did leave a ticking time bomb in place on health care. And if we don't defuse that bomb, people's health care costs are going to go through the roof. So, yes, we have put our proposal out there. Republicans have voted that down four times in the Senate. And as you heard, the House isn't even showing up.
Editor's Note: Democratic Senators John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada also voted for Republicans' funding plan.
Inskeep: But just to be clear, are all the Democrats – other than the three who voted for the other side – still united, so far as you know?
Van Hollen: Yes, because all Democrats want to prevent the president of the United States from engaging in lawless activity. And all Democrats want to make sure we don't see an explosion in health care costs for the American people.
Inskeep: I want to ask about the lawless activity that you mentioned. You've made the shutdown about health care tax credits, for the most part. But you now raise this other issue, which I know Democrats want to deal with in the longer term. The president does what he wants, including violating laws and saying the law is unconstitutional. The Supreme Court has largely deferred to him, at least temporarily, which does leave Congress. Are you saying you hope somehow to get a restriction on him out of Congress in the coming days?
Van Hollen: Well, if you look at our proposal, the one that we have been voting for, it does include provisions to address this illegal unilateral withholding of funds from Congress. Even [Republicans] Sen. Susan Collins and Sen. Lisa Murkowski have acknowledged that when the president unilaterally withholds funds, that that's illegal and we can change that. And in our proposal, we do create guardrails and safeguards against that.
Inskeep: The administration is moving to punish or retaliate against Democrats. Last week we heard the administration said it was canceling clean energy projects in 14 blue states – $7.6 billion in total for clean energy. And I noticed that one of the states affected is your state, Maryland. Have you heard from the people affected and how much damage is done here?
Van Hollen: Yes, they have been threatening to do that. They haven't necessarily invoked that yet. But this is another example of what the Donald Trump administration has been doing since Day One. I mean, they've been withholding funds from Maryland, from FEMA projects, meaning projects to help some of our communities prepare and mitigate against future damages in hurricanes. They've been withholding funds for [the National Institutes of Health]. So it is important to recognize that they've been shutting down parts of the government since Day One and their threat to fire people in a shutdown just shows how vindictive they are. There's nothing in the law that gives the president any more power to fire people in a shutdown. In fact, as [the American Federation of Government Employees] states in the lawsuit they filed two days ago, there's actually less authority for a president to be able to do that in a shutdown.
Inskeep: This is really interesting about the clean energy grants because it was my understanding that Russell Vought, the president's budget director, said in a social media post these were cancelled. It sounds like you just feel they have threatened to do that and have not really stopped the flow of money.
Van Hollen: Well, they did say that they've canceled it. I haven't heard directly from the people on the ground that this fund has been totally terminated. But I expect them to follow through on that threat. I also expect that the state of Maryland will be part of another lawsuit against these illegal actions by the Trump administration.
Inskeep: You did mention the possibility of firing people, which they've repeatedly threatened to do. A lot of your constituents are federal workers. If they start firing people on a large scale, how, if at all, will you respond?
Van Hollen: I will respond in two ways. Number one, supporting the litigation — the lawsuit that's already been filed by the federal employees union, making it clear it's illegal. And also doing everything I can to reopen the government — but again, without giving the president this blank check – and dealing with the health care cost issue.
This digital article was edited by Ally Schweitzer. The radio version was edited by Lisa Thomson and produced by Nia Dumas.
Copyright 2025 NPR
