Direct answer: The main reasons Democrats are holding out on a shutdown deal in November 2025 center on assurances about health care subsidies and policy guarantees, particularly extending expiring subsidies that lower health insurance costs, and ensuring protections or reversals related to prior health and social-program cuts. Democrats are demanding concrete, enforceable commitments from Republicans (and from the White House) that such subsidies will be renewed and that related health-care protections will be maintained, before they will support a funding bill to reopen the government. The dynamic is also shaped by distrust about whether any temporary funding agreement would be followed by durable, full-year appropriations and the political leverage each side holds after recent elections. In short, the sticking points are policy guarantees on health-care subsidies and broader funding commitments, framed within broader concerns about trust and adherence to any agreement.
