The House returned Wednesday after a nearly two-month break and took the final step toward ending the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, but members of 黑料吃瓜网鈥檚 congressional delegation, who opposed the deal because it didn鈥檛 extend health care subsidies, were not counted among the yes votes.
All five members of 黑料吃瓜网鈥檚 delegation joined most House Democrats in voting against the funding package that will reopen the government after 43 days. They rejected the mainly because it made no guarantee to extend enhanced premium subsidies that will soon expire for those on Affordable Care Act health plans 鈥� or in 黑料吃瓜网, the state鈥檚 marketplace Access Health CT. They also objected to the absence of submarine funding in the measure.
As part of the deal, Senate Republican leadership promised to hold a vote by the second week of December on an extension, though the House hasn鈥檛 committed to such a vote. The funding package also includes three separate bills to fund parts of the government through fiscal year 2026, in addition to a short-term bill for the remaining agencies only through Jan. 30.
The bill does guarantee back pay for furloughed federal workers 鈥� a requirement of a 2019 law 鈥� though President Donald Trump has suggested at times they might not get paid. It also reverses layoffs that occurred during the shutdown, which were already paused by federal judges. The bill passed in a nearly party-line vote, 222-209. Trump will sign the bill Wednesday night, marking the official end to the shutdown.
鈥淭he whole exercise was pointless, it was wrong, it was cruel,鈥� House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. said shortly before the vote, noting the airline disruptions and missed paychecks for federal workers. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not going to let them succeed in that game.鈥�
The fate of is uncertain at best. They are set to expire on Dec. 31 if there鈥檚 no congressional action. If they expire, those who only receive the enhanced tax credit would see their premiums rise in 2026, while those who earn less than 400% of the federal poverty level would get less assistance than they do now.
In the coming weeks, House Democrats will try to force a vote on the issue through a difficult procedural move. Across the U.S. Capitol, the Senate is expected to take it up, though passage in that chamber is far from guaranteed.
But Democrats, including those in 黑料吃瓜网, don鈥檛 want to stop fighting for an outcome they believe their constituents want, particularly after in the state and across the country.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think we can concede defeat just based on what [House Speaker] Mike Johnson is going to do,鈥� U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-5th District, said. 鈥淚 think we keep doing what we鈥檙e doing, making sure that the American people know what鈥檚 at stake.鈥�
Health care fight continues
In a last-ditch effort, House Democrats are going to use a rarely used 鈥� and rarely successful 鈥� procedure to force a floor vote as the minority party. By using the vehicle , Democrats will need to garner 218 signatures to secure a vote on a three-year extension of the subsidies.
That means they鈥檒l need at least a few Republicans to sign on, which will be a tough sell. Some moderate Republicans, however, have been supportive of a one-year subsidies extension through a bipartisan bill.
Senate GOP leadership promised to hold a vote on the ACA enhanced subsidies by the second week of December, but it鈥檚 unclear if enough Republican senators would support such a measure. If all Senate Democrats backed the bill, they would need to sway seven GOP senators to get it to clear the 60-vote threshold.
It鈥檚 even more unlikely the House will take it up before the subsidies expire at the end of next month. A vote in the House wasn鈥檛 part of the shutdown deal, and Speaker Johnson hasn鈥檛 made any commitments.
鈥淚鈥檓 not promising anybody anything. I鈥檓 going to let this process play out,鈥� Johnson said at a recent press conference.
黑料吃瓜网 Democrats have vowed to keep pushing for an extension of the subsidies if the effort fails next month.
Congress could be grappling with these same issues early next year since short-term funding for most government agencies runs out by the end of January. If lawmakers can鈥檛 pass the rest of the full-year appropriations bills, they would need to once again rely on another funding patch known as a continuing resolution.
鈥淲hen we come to Jan. 30, we will see what progress has been made. Johnson said he won鈥檛 guarantee a vote in the House. The Senate says they will have a vote. Do I trust any of them? Hell no,鈥� U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd District, said.
As the ranking member on the House Appropriations Committee, DeLauro plays a major role in negotiating the remaining nine spending bills and has a little over two months to hash out an agreement with Republican lawmakers on the committee.
With the House on recess for more than 50 days, DeLauro said they lost critical time on negotiations. And there鈥檚 not much time left in the year given the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.
鈥淔ifty four days, we could have been working on appropriations bills. We have nine more bills to go,鈥� DeLauro said. 鈥淪o we will see. My concern is that we鈥檙e going to be here in the same situation on Jan. 30.鈥�
That leaves little time for work on appropriations and Democrats鈥� push for a subsidies extension with the next funding deadline set for Jan. 30.
鈥淲e should have been working on this literally every day before now. We should have been working on this when we knew the subsidies were going to expire,鈥� Hayes said. 鈥淲e could have had bipartisan conversations.鈥�
鈥淚 think that we鈥檙e going to still be fighting. I know that I鈥檓 going to keep fighting to try to get these health care subsidies for my constituents,鈥� she continued. 鈥淚鈥檓 hoping that we don鈥檛 end up in another shutdown situation because people know how devastating that is, but that means we gotta work every day until then."
No funding for Columbia-class subs
U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, noted the omission of funding for the Columbia-class submarine program as another red flag. He said the Senate 鈥渄ropped the ball鈥� on that front in the negotiations, particularly with the House out of town for the past 54 days.
When Congress passes short-term bills like continuing resolutions that keep most government functions running at current funding levels, lawmakers can use what鈥檚 known as 鈥渁nomalies鈥� to make adjustments to funding levels.
Courtney, the ranking member of the Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee, said that program has gotten anomalies in past budgets because it is viewed as a top priority for the U.S. Navy. And he noted that the White House had submitted its for the Columbia-class submarines, but it was left out of both the original short-term bill and the one that just passed the House.
鈥淭hey made a judgment call that it was such a short-duration [continuing resolution] that it was not really as critical to have an anomaly for it,鈥� Courtney said, referring to the original short-term bill that funded the government through Nov. 21. 鈥淏ut now we鈥檙e talking Jan. 30, and that鈥檚 where the Navy鈥檚 request really made sense if you were going to treat this as the priority program which it always has been given.鈥�
The , however, included anomaly funding for the Virginia-class submarine program.
Electric Boat is the lead contractor on the nuclear-powered ballistic missile vessels to replace the Groton-based company鈥檚 Ohio-class submarines. It works alongside Huntington Ingalls Industries鈥� Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia on the construction of those subs. Both of those companies work on the Virginia-class program.
The goal of the Navy is to produce two Virginia-class and one Columbia-class a year, though there are delays in the production cadence impacting that goal, from the Congressional Research Service.
鈥淭here was an assumption that they were going to do an anomaly for it, and it鈥檚 zero,鈥� Courtney said. 鈥淭o me, it just shows not having the House here and just letting these senators who, in my opinion, didn鈥檛 pay attention to the priority of keeping schedule, given the age of those boats, that鈥檚 what happens.鈥�
The 黑料吃瓜网 Mirror/黑料吃瓜网 Radio federal policy reporter position is made possible, in part, by funding from the Robert and Margaret Patricelli Family Foundation.
