New Mexico congressional delegation opposed to shutdown deal

New Mexico’s U.S. senators voted Sunday against moving forward a deal to end the federal government shutdown, because it does not address expiring health insurance subsidies.

Eight Democrat and independent senators voted with Republicans in a procedural vote on a package of bills that would keep the government funded at the same levels into January, taking a first step to end the more than 40-day long government shutdown. The Senate began a series of votes Monday evening to pass the legislation.

“Let’s end this entirely unnecessary, shameful shutdown,” Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said on the Senate floor.

The House is expected to come back in session Wednesday to take up the temporary funding bill.

While the bills do not address subsidies for Affordable Care Act health insurance plans that Democrats have based much of their holdout on, the package does differ from the temporary funding bill the House passed in September. It would extend funding through January and includes a reversal of all federal employee layoffs conducted during the shutdown. The package also includes full-year funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children.

“This ‘deal’ is one that many New Mexicans literally cannot afford — and we will keep working to rein in the affordability crisis that is hurting families in New Mexico and across the country,” Democratic Sens. Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico said in a joint statement.

New Mexico’s House representatives have indicated they also oppose the temporary funding bill, but Republicans have enough seats in the House to pass it along party lines. Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M., said she is relieved the shutdown is coming to an end.

“But I think, like many Americans, I feel betrayed by the handful of Senate Democrats who proceeded with taking a vote to end the shutdown without consultation with the rest of the Democratic caucus and that essentially allowed for a vote to happen without addressing the heart of what we have been fighting for,” she said.