The Senate voted 60-40 to overcome a filibuster on an updated continuing resolution proposed by the GOP, which would end the 40-day government shutdown. Eight Senate Democrats acquiesced to their insistence on including provisions to extend government subsidies for the Affordable Care Act. Later, the Senate adjourned for the evening and will reconvene on Monday at 11 a.m. The Senate is then expected to proceed with an official vote to reopen the government on Tuesday, according to reports.
While the bill does not include the ACA subsidies, it does include stipulations to reverse the layoffs of federal employees that happened in October. Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL), John Fetterman (D-PA), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Angus King (I-ME), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) were the Democrats who joined the GOP.
The Democrats who opposed the bill, however, were quite displeased. Many spent weeks clamoring about the importance of reopening the government, with some citing that SNAP recipients who were not getting their benefits due to the shutdown were starving. Yet, on Sunday night, they took to social media to voice their displeasure with the proposed bill to end the shutdown. Many of them repeated the same talking points in their messaging, often pushing a class warfare narrative with frequent mentions of billionaires.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said he was voting “no” because of the “Republican-made healthcare crisis.”
“America is in the midst of a Republican-made healthcare crisis — a crisis so severe, so urgent, and so devastating for American families that I cannot support a continuing resolution that fails to address it,” Schumer said. “I am voting NO.”
Schumer’s colleague from New York, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), echoed his sentiments about healthcare costs.
“I cannot support this deal, which fails to address the needs of 20 million Americans facing skyrocketing healthcare costs,” she said in a post on X.
She then elaborated with a message posted to her account.
“I cannot trust the Republicans to do the right thing, so I don’t believe the vote to restore healthcare will be successful,” Gillibrand said in the statement. “Because of this lack of trust, I will not support this deal, which fails to address the needs of 20 million Americans facing skyrocketing healthcare costs, and instead rubber-stamps policies that reward billionaires at the expense of everyone else.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said he would not support the bill because it would “double healthcare” costs and cause “50,000 Americans to die unnecessarily every year.”
“I’m voting no on the continuing resolution that would double healthcare premiums for 20 million Americans, kick 15 million people off Medicaid & allow 50,000 Americans to die unnecessarily every year,” Sanders posted. “All to give $1 trillion in tax breaks for billionaires.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has been an outspoken critic of the shutdown and has frequently mentioned healthcare costs resulting from the expiring ACA subsidies. She echoed those sentiments on Sunday night, explaining her vote against the bill by claiming the country was in a “healthcare emergency.”
“I will not support a deal that does nothing to make healthcare more affordable,” Warren posted. “We are in a healthcare emergency. A simple one-year extension of these tax credits would cost less than Donald Trump’s $40 billion bailout for Argentina. A vote for this bill is a mistake.”
Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) said he was also voting against the bill because of healthcare costs that were “hurting the people” in his state.
“As I’ve always said, I will not support a government funding bill that continues to raise our costs, jeopardizes our healthcare, and hurts the people of my state,” Booker said. “I’m urging my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to stand up for Americans who are counting on us to lower their costs, and address the urgent, and–in too many cases–dire challenges people are facing in our country.”
“I will not let up in this fight,” he added. “I will vote no.”
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) also mentioned healthcare costs as the reason he voted against the bill. He also promoted the idea that the bill doesn’t help working-class people but only the affluent and wealthy.
“I just voted against this funding bill because healthcare costs are skyrocketing,” Kelly posted on his X account. “The only thing Trump knows how to do is give tax cuts to rich people, while screwing over working Americans.”
Kelly’s colleague, Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), also cited healthcare costs as the reason for his vote against the bill.
“I’m voting NO on the CR,” Gallego posted. “I have been clear on this from the beginning: I will not turn my back on the 24 million Americans who will see their premiums more than double if we don’t extend these tax credits.”
“At a time when prices are already too high, Americans are shopping for health insurance and experiencing such sticker shock that they are being forced to sign up for a crappy, overpriced plan or not signing up for insurance at all,” he added.
Gallego then slammed Republicans for working to reopen the government because the deal agreed to Sunday night put “working people against each other.”
“It is disgusting that Republicans have put the country in the place, where they are pitting working people against each other — a family at a food bank versus a family that relies on the premium tax credits to get good medical care,” Gallego said. “We can and must care about both.”
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) also cited healthcare costs for her vote against the bill and blamed Republicans for the crisis.
“Lowering costs is the top priority for the American people,” she said. “I voted against this budget bill because it does not prevent health insurance premiums from doubling for so many Americans. The President and Congressional Republicans should have come to the table to work with us to lower these costs. In every other budget impasse or shutdown there were negotiations and compromise with the White House. I am committed to lowering healthcare costs and will do everything I can to get this done.”
Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) also voted against the deal to end the government shutdown after regularly expressing the need to reopen the government. On Sunday night, he said he was voting no because of high healthcare costs and, like his Democratic Senate colleagues, blamed it on Republicans.
“I refuse to support a funding bill that fails to address the Republican health care crisis,” Schiff posted on X. “And make health insurance affordable. The American people clearly understand the stakes and the urgency. We must too. I’m voting no.”
