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It’s not quite a breakthrough that will end the government shutdown, but a handful of Republicans, including one from South Texas, are growing more vocal about the need to address the issue that Democrats have made central to the fight: health care costs.
U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz, a McAllen Republican bracing for a tough re-election battle next year, has signed onto a letter with 12 others in her party that pushes House Speaker Mike Johnson to deal with looming cost increases for people insured through the Affordable Care Act.
In it, the members praise Johnson for how he’s handled the shutdown talks, but make clear they are worried about what lies ahead if the tax credits that lower the cost of insurance are allowed to expire.
“Allowing these tax credits to lapse without a clear path forward would risk real harm to those we represent,” the members wrote in the letter. “Nevertheless, we must chart a conservative path that protects working families in our districts across the country who rely on these credits.”
It’s easy to see why De La Cruz signed onto the letter. She represents the 15th Congressional District, which stretches from McAllen to Seguin and has one of the highest percentages of ACA (commonly called Obama Care) enrollees in the nation. About 19% of the district’s population gets their health insurance through the program - the most of any congressional district in Texas and among the top 15 in the entire nation, according to data collected by KFF, a nonpartisan health policy research outlet.
More than 50,000 people in De La Cruz’s district could be knocked out of the program without the credits, according to data from the Joint Economic Committee in Congress.
Last month, De La Cruz signed onto a bipartisan proposal in the House to extend them for a year.
The expiring credits have become central to the Democrats' fight with Republicans in Congress amid the lingering government shutdown. Democrats have refused to support any temporary budget deals to reopen the government without a commitment from Republicans to address extend the credits that help lower costs by hundreds of dollars.
But don’t take the letter as a sign that the 13 Republicans are joining forces with the Democrats. They blasted Democrats over the shutdown and encouraged Johnson to only deal with the health care programs when the government is back open.
“We stand firmly behind you as you lead our Conference toward ending the government shutdown,” the letter states.
De La Cruz’s district is one of the most competitive congressional seats in Texas. Democrats Ada Cuellar, an emergency room doctor, and Bobby Pulido, a Tejano music artist, have both filed to run for the district and are both drawing attention to the rising health care costs in the district.
De La Cruz won her seat in Congress in 2022, but new redistricting maps have shifted her district east to pick up all or parts of seven counties she hasn’t represented before, potentially weakening some of her incumbency advantage.
 | Jeremy Wallace, Texas politics reporter |
Who's Up, Who's Down
A daily stock market-style report on key players in Texas politics.
Up: Loving County.
The smallest county in Texas has had the biggest surge in registered voters in the state since January. They only added 23 people, but because just 117 people had been registered before, it meant a nearly 20% increase. That is double the percentage increase of any other county in Texas. The surge is notable given reporter Eric Dexheimer’s investigation, which showed an Indiana man has been trying to entice people to the small county and register to vote so they can swing future elections in their favor. Essentially a government takeover. That has since drawn the concern of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and others who are now trying to stop the effort.
Down: Food Stamp Recipients.
Millions of Texans may not receive their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits next month as the second-longest government shutdown in history drags into its fourth week. While the USDA says they have funding to cover October, they warn that if the shutdown continues, “there will be insufficient funds to pay full November SNAP benefits for approximately 42 million individuals across the nation.” In Texas, more than 3.4 million low-income people rely on SNAP benefits to supplement their grocery budget.
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