The narrowly divided House of Representatives voted Wednesday to end the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, with New Hampshire Representatives Chris Pappas and Maggie Goodlander joining all but six Democrats to oppose the stop-gap spending plan to fund the federal government through the end of January.
The 222-209 vote reinstates federal employees fired during the 42-day shutdown, provides back pay to federal workers, and restores benefits to the low-income food program known as SNAP.
President Donald Trump signed the bill into law Wednesday night.
House Speaker Mike Johnson praised the outcome, which won the support of all but two members of the Republican caucus.
“We are going to get the government running again and working for the people as they deserve,” Johnson said.
But the vote on the deal to end the shutdown divided New Hampshire’s all-Democratic congressional delegation. While Pappas and Goodlander voted against it, the state’s senators — Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan — helped broker the deal with Republican leaders in their chamber and voted in favor of it during Monday’s Senate vote.
After Wednesday’s House vote, both Pappas and Goodlander reiterated their frustration that the plan fails to guarantee the extension of health insurance tax credits under the Affordable Care Act that now help more than 20 million people afford health insurance.
“This fight is and always has been about preventing a drastic increase in health care costs and making life more affordable for Granite Staters,” Pappas said in a statement after the vote. “As the House finally returns to session, that is where our focus must remain.”
The House action came two days after the proposal cleared the Senate by a 60-40 margin, after eight Democrats, including Shaheen and Hassan, backed it. As part of that deal, Senate GOP leaders agreed to vote in December on the insurance tax credits. But Johnson has stopped short of promising a similar vote in the House.
