'How long are you going to hold the line?' Democrats' shutdown resolve tested in Miami

Claire Heddles, Miami Herald on Nov 3, 2025

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MIAMI — When South Florida father, psychologist and small business owner Seth Grossman checked Obamacare’s enrollment portal when it opened Saturday, he saw the price for his family’s health care will jump from $3,000 a month to $4,500 if Congress doesn’t extend the current subsidies.

It’s a tale of shock and fear replicating across the more than 1 million Obamacare enrollees in Miami-Dade — and one Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Chris Murphy and Tina Smith pointed to as emblematic of why they’re voting to keep the government shut down during a visit to Miami Monday.

“It doesn’t sound like this is a crisis that we can solve six months from now,” Murphy told Obamacare enrollees who attended the event. “This is an important fight for us to win right now.”

But cracks were starting to show in supporters’ resolve for Democrats to hold the line at all costs — even in the Obamacare capital of the country.

“Hold the line,” Grossman told the Miami Herald, when asked if Democrats should concede on health care to reopen the government. But, he said, “I think that might be a time where I might have a different answer.”

He said he’s concerned about the most vulnerable Americans paying the price of shutdown politics, particularly as Donald Trump agreed Monday to only partially fund SNAP benefits during the shutdown after two federal court judges ruled he’s required to keep paying for food assistance.

“A critical point for me has been the federal decision that he has to pay SNAP,” Grossman added. “If [Trump] ignores that and nothing happens — if the judiciary doesn’t do anything to do that — I think we’re in a lot of trouble.”

Democrats are in a messaging battle with Republicans and need to convince the public that their votes to keep the government shut down until Republicans agree to extending Obamacare subsidies are worth the pain of lapsed federal worker paychecks and food assistance.

State Democratic Executive Committeewoman Sardeborah Wright interrupted the senators’ panel in Allapattah Monday to ask about how long federal workers will keep losing paychecks during Congress’ game of shutdown chicken.

“How long are you going to hold the line? Because after a while it’s getting ridiculous. Nothing’s getting done and what they need to do is change their message,” Wright told the Herald afterward. “The people know that Republicans don’t care, so lean into that.”

Democratic senators said that’s exactly what they were doing in Miami, which Warren described to the Herald as “ground zero in the families who are gonna get hurt.”

“If your senators won’t bring your stories back to Washington, we will bring your stories back to Washington,” Murphy said, criticizing Florida’s Republican senators for not agreeing to extend Obamacare subsidies. (Two House Republicans from Miami have signed on to a proposal for a one-year extension.)

“Donald Trump is trying to use hungry children, hungry veterans and hungry seniors as a bargaining chip,” Warren told the Herald. “If he has everything he wants, what will he do? He’ll just ask for more. So I think this is the right fight.”

She pointed to Trump’s widespread firing of federal workers with the help of Elon Musk earlier this year as evidence that Trump is the perpetrator of federal workers’ suffering — not the government shutdown.

But as the pain of a government shutdown drags on, the pressure’s only going to increase.

Francoise Cham, another Obamacare enrollee, said the Democrats’ position standing up to Republicans is worth the cost, even if it means the shutdown will continue indefinitely.

“That’s like giving in to your kid,” Cham said of giving Republicans what they want — a reopened government without extended subsidies. “You give in, what do you think is going to happen? They’re going to keep doing it.”

She said when she checked her rates when Obamacare’s open enrollment period opened Saturday, her monthly premium had gone up for 2026 by more than 250%.

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