Waste, Fraud Plague Health Care Subsidies at Center of Shutdown: JD Vance

Democrats and Republicans have been at odds over considering a measure to extend certain health care subsidies to reopen the government.

Vice President JD Vance speaks about tax cuts and support for law enforcement at Concord–Padgett Regional Airport in Concord, N.C., on Sept. 24, 2025. Alex Brandon/Pool via Reuters/File Photo

Vice President JD Vance said on Oct. 12 that waste and fraud plague the health care tax credits at the center of a congressional funding impasse that led to the ongoing government shutdown.

Democrats have sought to add an extension of health care subsidies under the Affordable Care Act—former President Barack Obama’s health care law, also called Obamacare—into a stopgap measure meant to keep the government funded. But Republicans have refused to discuss it, or any other policy, until the government reopens, noting that the subsidies will not expire until the end of this year.

“The tax credits go to some people deservedly, and we think the tax credits actually go to a lot of waste and fraud within the insurance industry,” Vance told CBS News’s “Face the Nation“ on Oct. 12. ”We want to make sure that the tax credits go to the people who need them.”

Neither Democrats nor Republicans in the Senate have moved on their positions, with both blaming the other party for the ongoing shutdown.

The shutdown began in the early morning hours on Oct. 1 after a stopgap measure to continue funding the government failed in the Senate. Multiple bills to reopen the government have failed since.

Vance said on Oct. 12 that there is “a lot of willingness” among moderate Democrats and that the administration is willing to make compromises. However, he said “far left Democrats” are holding the government funding hostage.

“[Those individuals are] going to shut down the government and refuse to open up the government unless they get everything they want,” Vance said.

“That’s not a negotiation. That’s a hostage taking, and we’re not going to reward that kind of behavior from Washington, D.C.”

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), meanwhile, said in Senate floor remarks on Oct. 9 that his party’s position on health care subsidies is not intractable and that higher health care premiums could be the result if the subsidies are not extended.

“Republicans have chosen to shut down the government rather than work with us to defuse the ticking time bomb that will blow up health care for millions of Americans,” Schumer said in a video released last week on X. “Congressional Democrats are on the side of the American people, and together, we will fight to make this right.”

Tensions regarding the shutdown escalated last week after a top Trump administration official confirmed that government layoffs had started. In a post on X on Oct. 10, White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought said the reductions-in-force have begun, while court papers filed in a lawsuit by the Justice Department indicated that about 4,100 people were laid off so far across several agencies.

In a separate interview, Vance told Fox News on Oct. 12 that more federal layoffs would be initiated as the shutdown continues.

“The longer this goes on, the deeper the cuts are going to be,” the vice president said on Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures.”

“To be clear, some of these cuts are going to be painful. This is not a situation that we relish. This is not something that we’re looking forward to.”

President Donald Trump and Vought have warned that they would carry out mass layoffs, continuing a trend that began with the establishment of the Department of Government Efficiency. In the months before the ongoing shutdown, the administration also launched efforts to lay off some federal employees or offer buyouts to have them resign.