Which specific bill are Democrats refusing to sign and when was it introduced?

1. A familiar standoff: Which funding bill did Democrats refuse and why that matters

Reporting converges on the claim that Senate and House Democrats refused to sign or vote to advance a “clean” continuing resolution — a short-term government funding measure that would extend existing Biden-era funding levels without policy changes. Coverage frames this refusal as a tactical holdout to press demands on health care policy, principally the extension of enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies and reversal of Medicaid cuts that Democrats say are required to prevent premium spikes for millions. The same holdout is described in multiple accounts as the proximate cause of repeated blocked efforts to avert a shutdown, with Senate and House procedural votes failing as Democrats insisted on linking funding to those health care provisions ^{[3] [2] [7]}.

2. When were these measures introduced or marked up — the timeline that reporters identify

The timeline in the material is not singular but points to specific dates. One GOP funding proposal to extend federal funding for a short interval is dated as introduced on September 30, 2025, and underwent votes and blocking actions through late October 2025, including a reported failed advance on October 22, 2025 ^{[1] [2]}. Separately, the Republican reconciliation bill that Democrats publicly opposed and described as enacting large Medicaid cuts was marked up on April 30, 2025, per committee materials cited by Democratic House oversight sources ^[4]. Other referenced bills—like the Manchin permitting package—trace to earlier sessions and 2022 origins, indicating different episodes of Democratic opposition across years ^[6].

3. The health-care hinge: Why Democrats say they will not sign the funding bills

Across the accounts, Democrats tie their refusal to health-care provisions that they say cannot be left to lapse: enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies set to expire, protections affecting Medicaid, and concerns about premium increases for millions. PBS and other coverage report Democrats rejecting stopgap funding that omits these extensions; oversight Democrats frame their opposition to the Republican reconciliation package on April 30, 2025, as an effort to block historic Medicaid cuts and harmful changes to federal workforce protections while offering amendments to add safeguards ^{[3] [1] [4]}. These sources present Democratic opposition as both policy-driven and tactical: leveraging votes on short-term funding to secure longer-term health coverage measures.

4. Multiple bills, multiple refusals — the broader record of “refusal” across sessions

The datasets show that “refusal to sign” is not a single event but a recurring pattern applied to different bills in different chambers and years. One analysis catalogs a set of House-passed measures that stalled in the Senate and are effectively unsigned into law, while another documents 72 Democrats opposing a Manchin permitting bill in 2022, and Democratic committees opposing a 2025 Republican reconciliation bill ^{[5] [6] [4]}. Coverage thus reflects both present standoffs over stopgap funding in 2025 and a longer history of strategic refusals — some procedural, some substantive — across policy areas from permitting to voting rights to healthcare.

5. Verdict for the question asked: a precise answer and the caveats readers need

If the question seeks a single specific bill name and introduction date, the most defensible answer from these materials is that Democrats refused to sign the GOP “clean” continuing resolution (stopgap funding bill) introduced and advanced in late September 2025, notably around September 30, 2025, with failed votes continuing into October 2025; that refusal is repeatedly tied to demands to extend ACA subsidies and protect Medicaid ^{[1] [2] [3]}. Caveat: separate refusals are documented against other bills — notably a Republican reconciliation bill marked up on April 30, 2025, and earlier opposition to the Manchin permitting bill — so the phrase “refusing to sign” covers multiple distinct episodes and targets across the sources ^{[4] [6]}.