Warner, Kaine split on deal to end shutdown
Virginia senators diverge as Senate advances funding measure 60-40; Warner cites health care concerns
Virginia’s two Democratic senators took opposing positions Sunday night as the Senate voted 60-40 to advance a deal to end the 40-day government shutdown.
Sen. Tim Kaine voted to advance the measure, joining seven other Democrats. Sen. Mark Warner voted against it, aligning with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and other Democrats who said the deal doesn’t adequately address health care funding.
The shutdown, which began Oct. 1, has affected approximately 13,000 federal workers living in Alexandria, as well as federal contractors. The city has deployed housing assistance, utility payment plans and childcare support.
“I cannot support a deal that still leaves millions of Americans wondering how they are going to pay for their health care or whether they will be able to afford to get sick,” Warner said in a statement. “Simply kicking the can down the road is not good enough.”
Kaine said the legislation meets his criteria for support. “I have long said that to earn my vote, we need to be on a path toward fixing Republicans’ health care mess and to protect the federal workforce,” he said. “This deal guarantees a vote to extend Affordable Care Act premium tax credits, which Republicans weren’t willing to do.”
The agreement, negotiated by Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., and Angus King, I-Maine, would fund the government through Jan. 30, according to NBC News. It includes three full-year appropriations bills for certain departments and fully funds the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program through next September.
The deal reverses Trump administration layoffs through “reduction in force” notifications, reinstates wrongfully terminated employees, and provides back pay for all federal workers, according to Kaine’s statement. The back pay provision builds on legislation Kaine passed in 2019.
However, the agreement doesn’t include an extension of expiring ACA subsidies. Democrats secured a promise that the Senate will vote on extending the subsidies by mid-December, with no guarantee of passage or House action, NBC News reported.
Warner said he appreciated “important language preventing further mass layoffs of federal employees” but added that families are “already struggling with rising prices on everything from groceries to housing.”
Kaine said lawmakers “know their constituents expect them to vote” for ACA subsidies, “and if they don’t, they could very well be replaced at the ballot box by someone who will.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., cited the “truly precarious situation” of federal workers forced to work without pay and delays at airports, according to NBC News.
If the measure clears the Senate, it must pass the House, which has been on recess since September. The process is expected to take days.
The eight Democrats who voted to advance the measure were Shaheen, Hassan, King, Kaine, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, Dick Durbin of Illinois, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Jacky Rosen of Nevada, NBC News reported.