House Votes To End Shutdown: See How VA Delegation Voted

Returning to Washington on Wednesday after a nearly eight-week absence, Virginia’s congressional delegation split squarely along party lines to approve a stopgap funding bill to reopen the government after the longest shutdown in U.S. history.

The House narrowly passed the spending package to reopen the government in a 222-209 vote. President Donald Trump signed the bill Wednesday night, ending the 43-day impasse, the longest shutdown in U.S. history, that left millions of federal workers without paychecks, delayed food assistance, and caused massive air travel disruptions.

The measure, H.R. 5371, funds much of the government through Jan. 30 and provides funding for some agencies through the end of next September.

It doesn’t include the key demand of Democrats, an extension of subsidies for Affordable Care Act Health Act premiums that will expire later this year. Republicans said that was a separate policy fight to be held another time.

“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.”

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Six House Democrats joined Republicans in voting to support it, and two Republicans voted against it. Earlier this week in the Senate, seven Democrats and one independent joined nearly all Republicans in voting for the stopgap funding bill.

Here’s how the Virginia House delegation voted on Wednesday:

Republicans voting in favor of the measure were Reps. Ben Cline, Morgan Griffith, John McGuire, Jen Kiggans and Rob Wittman.

Democrats voting against it were Reps. Don Beyer, Jennifer McLellan, Bobby Scott, Suhas Subramanyam, Eugene Vindman and James Walkinshaw.

“After 43 long days, it’s time for Congress to get back to regular legislative work and to pay our federal workers and our military,” Kiggans said Wednesday following the vote.

In a separate statement, Griffith accused Democrats of using the “American people’s suffering” as leverage during the shutdown.

“Virginia communities have suffered enough from this shutdown,” he said. “Accordingly, I again voted to fund the government and deliver relief to food insecure homes, rural health care, military families, etc.”

Other statements following the vote included:

Wittman: “This shutdown, which has been going on for nearly 43 days, has been devastating for American families, and never should have happened in the first place. Today, I voted in support of a measure to reopen the government and reinstate stability for Virginians. The American people deserve a government that works for them and does not come to a complete halt in pursuit of political games.”

Scott: “This government shutdown has been painful for many, especially Virginians. It could have been entirely avoided if Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans had worked with Democrats to address the health care crisis caused by their own policy choices.”

McLellan: “This fight is far from over. Every American deserves access to the care they need without worrying about whether they can afford to pay the bill. I will continue fighting alongside my House Democratic colleagues to ensure they can.”

Vindman: “Tonight my vote was simple: hell no. This budget is an insult to the American people. It does not address the health care affordability crisis, does not sufficiently protect federal workers, does not adequately support veterans affected by toxic burn pits, and does not stop the rampant chaos, cruelty and unprecedented corruption from the rubber-stamp.”

Subramanyam: "Did you know that the government funding bill has a provision that would force the DOJ to give millions in taxpayer money to at least 8 Republican Senators investigated after the Jan 6 insurrection? Not an exaggeration. And when I proposed an amendment last night to stop it, House Republicans voted it down (even though they admit it was corrupt)."

Federal workers are expected to return to work beginning Thursday. At least two agencies — the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of the Interior — offered guidance to employees on returning to their jobs, The New York Times reported.

The appropriations bills within the funding package include one that will fully fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, military construction and veterans affairs through September. Additionally, the legislation reverses federal employee layoffs, provides back pay for those employees, and includes protections against further federal layoffs through the end of January.

“This is a great victory for the American people, and it shows that the Senate can work,” Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said after the stopgap measure cleared the final hurdle in the Senate on a 60-40 vote.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota said on Sunday that he would allow a vote by mid-December on a Democratic-backed bill to extend the expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies. Thune has consistently maintained that Republicans would only negotiate on the subsidies after the government shutdown ended.

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.

It’s unclear whether the parties will find any common ground on health care before the December vote in the Senate. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana 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.

Collins, the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said Monday that she supports 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 former President Barack Obama’s signature health care program for the past 15 years.

“That’s where they’re trying to go,” she said.

After refusing to convene the U.S. House during the government shutdown, Johnson faces an avalanche of pent-up legislative demands from lawmakers who have largely been sidelined from governing since the speaker took the unusual step of shuttering the House on Sept. 19 ahead of the Sept. 30 deadline to fund the government.

The speaker has defended his decision to shutter the House, arguing that the chamber, under the GOP majority, had already done its job passing a stopgap funding bill in September. It would be up to the Senate to act, he said.

As the House returned to work Wednesday, Arizona Democrat Adelita Grijalva was finally sworn into office on the House floor, taking the oath more than seven weeks after her special election victory.

The swearing-in marked the conclusion of a contentious stalemate with GOP Speaker Mike Johnson, who had previously prevented her from being seated during the record government shutdown.

With Grijalva seated, the GOP majority in the House shrinks to 219-214.

Grijalva’s first act as a congresswoman was to provide the required 218th signature on a bipartisan discharge petition that allows rank-and-file lawmakers to bypass Johnson and the House leadership team and force a vote on the release of the Justice Department files related to the late sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

Johnson said Wednesday that he plans to hold a vote next week on the measure that would mandate full disclosure of the files.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.