The U.S. Senate has taken the first step towards reaching a deal that would end the federal government shutdown.
The agreement would fund the government through the end of January, includes language to reverse layoffs of federal employees, and funds SNAP food benefits through the end of the fiscal year.
New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen has been negotiating with Republicans and was one of eight senators in the Democratic caucus to vote in favor of this agreement on Sunday. She spoke with NHPR’s Rick Ganley about her decision to support the deal.
Transcript
Failed negotiations over extending enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies are what initially led to this shutdown. This deal does not include an extension of those subsidies, which your party had been insisting on. So after 40-plus days, what did Democrats really get out of this deal?
Well, one of the things I think we did during the shutdown is to highlight for the American people who's fighting to extend these premium tax credits and keep the costs of health insurance affordable. We are going to continue that fight. That's part of what this deal does, is it gives us the opportunity to have a vote on the floor of the Senate in December, no later than mid-December, on a bill that we will write. And since we don't control the Senate or the House, we're pleased to do that, to be able to continue the fight. And hopefully our Republican colleagues will understand – and many of them seem to – that this is an issue not just for Democrats, but an issue for independents and Republicans, and that they need to come to the table and help us address it. That's what we will stay focused on from now until that December vote, and from now until next year, when we have the midterm elections.
Okay, I understand that you have a promise for a vote to go to the floor by mid-December, but the majority of Republicans have not indicated they would support an extension or that that has been the priority for them in the past. How do you have a guarantee that that vote can go your way?
Well, that's what we're going to work on, and hopefully the American people will help us do that by letting our Republican colleagues know that this is an issue for everyone. You know, we know that 76% of premium tax credit recipients are in states that Donald Trump won in the election. So it's in the interest of our Republican colleagues to address that. And if they don't, then we will hold them accountable and the American people will hold them accountable next year in the elections.
Over the course of the shutdown, federal workers have been laid off. People have gone without paychecks and food assistance. Most of that has been a result of decisions that the Trump administration has made. But do you wish that your party had handled these negotiations differently?
Well, I think one of the good things about this agreement is that it does end the government shutdown, which was doing real harm to too many people across this country, whether it's people who need food assistance. And in New Hampshire, we have 75,000 people who are on SNAP, the food program. We have 19,000 federal workers, including the National Guard, our naval shipyard, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard workers, air traffic controllers, all of whom have been working without pay. We need to get people back to work. We need to make sure they're getting paid. We're providing protections for federal workers who were let go during the shutdown. We're bringing them back. We're making sure that they're protected going forward. So we have a lot of work ahead of us, but this is an important agreement to get government up and running and to end the suffering that people have experienced.
I certainly appreciate that you want to get the government back to work here, but this is coming less than a week after Democrats saw big wins in elections across the country. A lot of people have read that as an indication that voters are blaming Republicans for the shutdown. Are you just giving up some leverage here?
Well, what we've heard from the very beginning is that Republicans weren't willing to negotiate on health care as long as the government was shut down. So now we're going to hold their feet to the fire. We're going to see if they're going to be willing to negotiate. And we need to remind people that they need to blame Donald Trump in the White House and the Republican majority Speaker [Mike] Johnson, the Republican majority in Congress for where we are. They're the reason we don't have health insurance that's affordable and they're not willing to extend those premium tax credits. So this is our chance to keep fighting about that and to show the American people who's on their side.
Are you really sure that there's nothing else that your party can do, though, to ensure that these Democratic priorities and the will of the public can be met? Is, you know, I think there's –
Well, I think that's what -- you know, Rick, I think that's what this fight is about. And we're going to keep that fight going. But harming millions of Americans, harming the people in New Hampshire who depend on the food program, harming those federal workers, the air traffic controllers looking at what's happening with air travel and keeping that suffering going. Here, we're two weeks from Thanksgiving. We're in the holiday season. We need to make sure that people are back to work, that they're getting their paychecks. And we need to continue to fight to show the American people who's on their side and who's doing everything possible to protect health care.
Can I ask you, in talking with your Republican colleagues, as we said earlier, you know, the majority Republicans have indicated they would not support an extension of ACA subsidies. But in talking with Republican colleagues, do they seem more open to really discussing that and possibly extending these subsidies?
They do. Absolutely. And so is the White House. We've heard from the White House that they understand that this is an issue for the American voters. As I said, 76% of people who benefit from the premium tax credits are people who are in states that Donald Trump won. They understand this is an issue for them, and if they don't address it, they're going to pay at the polls next year.
