(The Center Square) — New Hampshire’s two Democratic U.S. senators are defending their decision to join with Republicans in voting Sunday to reopen the federal government.
The Senate narrowly voted Sunday to advance a House-passed short-term funding measure that paves the way to end the federal government shutdown, the longest in U.S. history now its 41st day.
The measure was hammered out between the Senate’s Republican leaders and a group of eight Democrats including New Hampshire’s U.S. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan, who broke with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, and others to approve the temporary spending plan.
Sunday’s vote teed up for consideration later this week a legislative package that would fund the government through Jan. 30. Some agencies, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Department of Veterans Affairs, would be funding for the entire fiscal year. Funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, would be restored for the remainder of the fiscal year.
But the bipartisan deal has infuriated many Democratic lawmakers and progressive members of the party’s base, who accused the eight Senate Democrats of conceding the shutdown fight with no guarantee of progress on reducing costs for tens of millions of Americans who get health care insurance through the Affordable Health Care Act. Republicans have said they oppose extending the Obamacare tax credits.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, described the vote to temporarily fund the government as a “horrific mistake” and blasted fellow Democrats for caving to pressure from Republican President Donald Trump and GOP legislative leaders.
But Hassan defended her support for the temporary spending bill, saying it “funds SNAP and food assistance programs, ensures that law enforcement, air traffic controllers, and other federal workers get paid” and “crucially, gives Congress a clear path forward to protecting people’s health care.”
“With the government reopening shortly, Senate Republicans must finally come to the table — or, make no mistake, Americans will remember who stood in the way,” Hassan said in a statement.
Hassan said Congress has one month “to engage in serious, bipartisan negotiations to extend the Affordable Care Act’s expiring tax cuts for health insurance.”
“My Democratic colleagues and I have been ready to work on this for months,” she said. “With the government reopening shortly, Senate Republicans must finally come to the table — or, make no mistake, Americans will remember who stood in the way.”
Shaheen, who isn’t seeking reelection next year, also defended her vote and said the agreement “gives Democrats control of the Senate floor — at a time when Republicans control every level of power — on one of our top legislative priorities: Extending the enhanced premium tax credits to make health care more affordable for millions of Americans.”
“There is no one in the Senate who wants to see these tax credits extended more than me,” Shaheen said in a statement. “But weeks of negotiations with Republicans have made clear that they will not address health care as part of shutdown talks — and that waiting longer will only prolong the pain Americans are feeling because of the shutdown.”
