(The Center Square) — New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen is getting more blowback over her decision to join with Republicans in voting to reopen the federal government — from her own family.
Shaheen was among eight members of the Democratic caucus to break with Minority Leader Chuck Schumer by voting for a bipartisan plan to end the 41-day government shutdown — the longest in U.S. history. The measure past the Senate on Monday and is headed to the House for a vote, as early as Wednesday.
But her daughter, Stefany — a Democrat who is running for Congress — has come out against the bipartisan plan her mother negotiated to reopen the federal government.
In a statement, Stefany Shaheen said she opposes the bill because it doesn’t include guarantees the Republican-led Congress will take up the issue of expiring Affordable Care Act tax credits, a key demand of Democrats.
“Improving health care has been the cause of my life. It’s why I am running for congress,” she said. “So I cannot support this deal when Speaker Johnson refuses to even allow a vote to extend health care tax credits. We need to both end this shutdown and extend the ACA tax credits. Otherwise, no deal.”
Jeanne Shaheen, a three-term senator, isn’t seeking reelection next year. She has defended her vote and said the agreement as a way to reopen the government and get Republicans to negotiate on extending the expiring Obamacare credits.
“There is no one in the Senate who wants to see these tax credits extended more than me,” Sen. Shaheen said in a recent 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.”
But the state’s Republican party seized on the Shaheen family feud over the congressional spending bill, blasting Stefany Shaheen “for her silence during the Schumer Shutdown, a silence that left Granite State families without a voice while her mother voted to keep the government closed.”
“While New Hampshire families struggled to put food on the table, Stefany Shaheen stayed silent,” NHGOP Chairman Jim MacEachern said. “Her mother helped create the mess, and instead of standing up for what’s right, Stefany put politics first and turned her back on the Granite State.”
MacEachern added, “Stefany will do anything to get ahead, even if it means abandoning her own mother. If she’ll throw her mother under the bus, she’ll do the same to Granite Staters.”
