Some of the Democratic senators who supported advancing the government funding measure, enabling it to proceed, held a presser to defend their votes.
“This was the only deal on the table,” said Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire.
Sen. Angus King of Maine, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, called the deal “a win for the American people.”
He said the Democrats’ shutdown strategy wasn’t working. King had been voting with Republicans on the previous attempts to advance the funding measure.
“There was zero chance of dealing with the [Affordable Care Act] issue as long as the shutdown continued,” said King.
Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, who said he joined the group of Democrats just 48 hours ago, told reporters, “We were in a situation where SNAP recipients were suffering, and there was no guarantee we would ever get to an ACA solution.”
“Now we’ve got robust SNAP funding and a guaranteed vote — not a guaranteed outcome — but a guaranteed vote on ACA tax credits,” Kaine said.
Sen. John Hickenlooper of Colorado, who remained a “no” vote, said, “There’s no good choice … we have to stand up to this kind of strong man dictatorial approach to governing this country.” He said the package offered “no relief … for the incredible pressures people are feeling.”
Hickenlooper said Democrats “did not get our key demand” to restore the Affordable Care Act premium tax credits, though he was quick to add that “there’s not one person in the Democratic Caucus who doesn’t believe that we need health care for everybody.”
— Grace Kazarian, Patrick Maguire