Washington Democrats oppose deal to end government shutdown without addressing health care costs

WASHINGTON – After eight members of the Senate Democratic Caucus broke ranks and voted with Republicans to end the government shutdown, Washington state Democrats on Monday criticized the deal for not addressing their party’s demand to extend insurance subsidies whose expiration would raise health care costs for millions of Americans.

The breakaway Democratic senators sided with Republicans in a vote Monday night to fund some government programs and agencies through September 2026 and all others through January. In exchange for their help to achieve the 60 votes needed to break the impasse and end the 41-day stalemate, the Trump administration committed to rehire federal workers it fired during the shutdown and Senate GOP leaders agreed to allow a vote on extending the subsidies.

That promised future vote on health care subsidies likely will fail in the Senate, where at least 13 Republicans would need to vote with all 45 Democrats – plus the two independents who caucus with the Democrats – to pass a 60-vote threshold, and would almost certainly be stopped in the GOP-majority House. Once the outcome was clear on Sunday, Washington’s Democratic senators both released statements explaining their opposition to the measure.

“This bill doesn’t address the core issue that millions of Americans will no longer be able to afford ACA insurance coverage next year,” said Sen. Maria Cantwell, referring to health insurance plans made available by the Affordable Care Act. “I’m willing to work with anyone to create a path forward but this isn’t it.”

Sen. Patty Murray said she opposed the deal “because, as long as there is still any time left to reverse the MAGA health care hike, I believe we must do everything we can to force Republicans to the negotiating table – the fight for health care does not end tonight.”

“While I am frustrated by the outcome of this vote, I have no intention of letting Republicans off the hook: Republicans moved heaven and earth to pass new tax breaks for billionaires and the largest health care cuts in history, but refused to either reform or extend the ACA tax credits on their own terms,” she said, referring to the GOP’s signature tax-and-spending bill passed in July. “They could have; they simply didn’t care.”

In a statement Monday denouncing a “Senate Surrender” after the longest government shutdown in history, Rep. Marilyn Strickland, D-Tacoma, said that while she had already distrusted Republican leaders, “I’ve also lost faith in Senate Democrats who cannot see that they are being played.”

“Republicans control all of Congress, the White House, and have never had the votes they needed to keep government open,” Strickland said. “They flat-out refused to negotiate with Democrats to lower costs and save health care for 15 million American people. House Democrats rejected this false choice and have fought for 41 days to lower the cost of living and health care. ”

Meanwhile, Northwest Republicans expressed relief and triumph as an end to the shutdown finally came into view. In a post Sunday night on X, Rep. Michael Baumgartner, R-Spokane, called the Democrats’ holdout “a monumental waste of time that hurt a lot of people” and added, “I’m glad that it will soon be over.”

Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, emphasized that she saw the full-year appropriations bills attached to the short-term spending bill as a positive step toward finishing the regular government funding process. Those three bills – just a quarter of the 12 needed to fund the government in full – include money for the Department of Veterans Affairs, military construction, the Department of Agriculture and the legislative branch.

The eight members of the Senate Democratic Caucus who voted for the funding bill Monday are Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen of Nevada; Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire; Tim Kaine of Virginia; John Fetterman of Pennsylvania; Dick Durbin of Illinois; and Angus King of Maine, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats.

Although most Democrats in both the House and Senate have backed their leaders’ strategy to hold out for concessions on health care spending, the longest shutdown in U.S. history has caused undeniable pain for a growing number of Americans, as the Trump administration opted not to use an emergency fund to continue food assistance and ordered airlines to reduce flights as air traffic controllers went unpaid.

Both parties likely will use the shutdown in their 2026 campaign messaging. Rep. Suzan DelBene, a Washington Democrat from Medina who leads the House Democrats campaign arm, previewed that rhetoric in a statement on Monday.

“The Republican health care crisis is sending insurance premiums skyrocketing – sometimes double or even triple what they currently are,” DelBene said. “American families have made it crystal clear, time and time again, that affordability is their No. 1 concern. The high cost of health care is one of the biggest expenses families are facing. These price hikes next year will force many Americans to forgo coverage and pray they don’t get sick. That’s unacceptable in the wealthiest nation on Earth.”

After Democrats enacted the Affordable Care Act in 2010, high monthly premiums dissuaded many Americans from buying the private health insurance plans offered through the marketplaces established by what came to be known as “Obamacare.” When Democrats had control of the House, Senate and White House in 2021, they increased subsidies to lower those premiums, but concerns among their own caucus about the cost of making those tax credits permanent resulted in an expiration date at the end of 2025.

Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, argued in a speech on the Senate floor on Sunday that Democrats have taken too narrow a view of the problem of rising health insurance costs. Premiums are set to rise in 2026 for all private health insurance plans – by an average of 21% in Washington and 10% in Idaho – with bigger increases for people who rely on subsidized “Obamacare” plans. The enhanced subsidies, he said, don’t deal with “the foundation of what is driving premium increases.”

“Everybody in America is going to get hit with a massive premium increase,” he said. “I’m just asking my colleagues on the other side to quit trying to blame Republicans for the premium increases that are coming and say, ‘Let’s get the government open and let’s get together working to solve our health care crisis.’”

The shutdown could end as soon as Wednesday, when the House is set to return to the Capitol from its seven-week recess.