WASHINGTON (AP) — The House passed a bill Wednesday to end the nation’s longest government shutdown, sending the measure to President Donald Trump for his signature after a historic 43-day funding lapse that saw federal workers go without multiple paychecks, travelers stranded at airports and people lining up at food banks to get a meal for their families.
House lawmakers made their long-awaited return to the nation’s capital this week after nearly eight weeks away, with Republicans using their slight majority to get the bill over the finish line by a vote of 222-209. The Senate has already passed the measure. Trump has called the bill a “very big victory.”
Six Democrats, including Jared Golden of Maine, voted for the bill, while two Republicans voted against it.
Democrats wanted to extend an enhanced tax credit expiring at the end of the year that lowers the cost of health coverage obtained through Affordable Care Act marketplaces. They refused to go along with a short-term spending bill that did not include that priority. But Republicans said that was a separate policy fight to be held at another time. They eventually prevailed, but only after the shutdown took an increasing toll on the country.
“We told you 43 days ago from bitter experience that government shutdowns don’t work,” said Rep. Tom Cole, the Republican chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. “They never achieve the objective that you announce. And guess what? You haven’t achieved that objective yet, and you’re not going to.”
Rep. Golden said after the vote that Congress “still has a window to pass bipartisan legislation to extend the ACA premium tax credits,” noting that he was part of a bipartisan coalition in that put forward legislation in September to extend the credits for one year. “[N]ow, with the shutdown now over, I urge members of both parties who care about affordable health care to come back to the table so we can get the job done,” he said.
The shutdown magnified the stark partisan divisions within Congress, and that split screen was reflected when lawmakers debated the measure on the House floor.
Republicans said Democrats sought to use the pain generated by the shutdown to prevail in a policy dispute.
“Stop imposing the suffering,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said. “Let’s open the government. Let’s get back to the work of the American people.”
Democrats said Republicans raced to pass tax breaks earlier this year that they say mostly will benefit the wealthy, but the bill before the House Wednesday “leaves families twisting in the wind with zero guarantee there will ever, ever be a vote to extend tax credits to help everyday people pay for their health care,” said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass.
Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said Democrats would not give up even if the vote did not go their way.
“This fight is not over,” Jeffries said. “We’re just getting started.”
The House had not been in legislative session since Sept. 19, when it passed a short-term measure to keep the government open when the new budget year began in October. House Speaker Mike Johnson sent lawmakers home after that vote and put the onus on the Senate to act, saying House Republicans had done their job.
Johnson said the Democratic opposition to the spending bill was pointless, adding “it was wrong, it was cruel.”
“They knew it would cause pain and they did it anyway,” Johnson said.
The compromise to end the shutdown
The legislation included buy-in from eight senators who broke ranks with the Democrats after reaching the conclusion that Republicans would not bend on using a government funding to bill to extend the health care tax credits. Meanwhile, the shutdown’s toll was growing by the day.
The compromise funds three annual spending bills and extends the rest of government funding through Jan. 30. Republicans promised to hold a vote by mid-December to extend the health care subsidies, but there is no guarantee of success.
“We had reached a point where I think a number of us believed that the shutdown had been very effective in raising the concern about health care,” said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H. The promise for a future vote “gives us an opportunity to continue to address that going forward.”
The legislation includes a reversal of the firing of federal workers by the Trump administration since the shutdown began. It also protects federal workers against further layoffs through January and guarantees they are paid once the shutdown is over. The bill for the Agriculture Department means people who rely on key food assistance programs will see those benefits funded without threat of interruption through the rest of the budget year.
The package includes $203.5 million to boost security for lawmakers and an additional $28 million for the security of Supreme Court justices.
Democrats are also seizing on language that would give senators the opportunity to sue when a federal agency or employee searches their electronic records without notifying them, allowing for up to $500,000 in potential damages for each violation. Democrats called for removal of the provision.
The language seems aimed at helping Republican senators pursue damages if their phone records were analyzed by the FBI as part of an investigation into Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. The provisions drew criticism from Republicans as well. Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga., said he’s already introduced repeal legislation that he hoped would be voted on quickly.
The biggest point of contention, though, was the fate of the expiring enhanced tax credit that makes health insurance more affordable through Affordable Care Act marketplaces.
“It’s a subsidy on top of a subsidy. Our friends added it during COVID,” Cole said. “COVID is over. They set a date certain that the subsidies would run out. They chose the date.”
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the enhanced tax credit was designed to give more people access to health care, but no Republicans voted for it.
“All they have done is try to eliminate access to health care in our country. The country is catching on to them,” Pelosi said.
Most Democrats call the passage of the spending bill this week a mistake. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York, who received blowback from his party in March when he voted to keep the government open, said the bill “fails to do anything of substance to fix America’s healthcare crisis.”
Without the enhanced tax credit, premiums on average will more than double for millions of Americans. More than 2 million people would lose health insurance coverage altogether next year, the Congressional Budget Office projected.
Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who caucuses with the Democrats, said giving up the fight was a “horrific mistake.” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., agreed, saying that voters who overwhelmingly supported Democrats in last week’s elections were urging them to “hold firm.”
Health care debate ahead
It’s unclear whether the parties will find any common ground on health care before the December vote in the Senate. Johnson has said he will not commit to bringing it up in his chamber.
Some Republicans have said they are open to extending the COVID-19 pandemic-era tax credits as premiums will soar for millions of people, but they also want new limits on who can receive the subsidies. Some argue that the tax dollars for the plans should be routed through individuals rather than go directly to insurance companies.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said Monday that she was supportive of extending the tax credits with changes, such as new income caps. Some Democrats have signaled they could be open to that idea.
House Democrats expressed great skepticism that the Senate effort would lead to a breakthrough.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said Republicans have wanted to repeal the health overall for the past 15 years. “That’s where they’re trying to go,” she said.
Story by Kevin Freking, Joey Cappelletti and Matt Brown, Associated Press. Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick and BDN writer Ethan Andrews contributed to this report.
