Michael Bennet, John Hickenlooper blast vote to reopen government without any guarantees on health care subsidies

Colorado's Democratic senators voted against a package to reopen the government because they said it did not include an extension of the health insurance tax credit that they were seeking.

U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper's opposition was not surprising.

This story was produced as part of the Colorado Capitol News Alliance. It first appeared at cpr.org.

Both had voted Sunday night against advancing the package, which passed the Senate 60-40, with eight senators who caucus with Democrats voting with Republicans to send it to the House.

If it gets House approval, the government could reopen later this week.

The deal extends government funding through Jan. 30, ensures full year funding for the agriculture, military construction-veterans affairs, and legislative branches; undoes layoffs of federal employees during the shutdown; and includes a promise of a Senate floor vote by mid-December on a bill to extend an enhanced premium tax credit for people who buy health insurance on the state marketplace, Connect for Health Colorado.

Hickenlooper and Bennet are pessimistic that the promised vote will result in the tax credits being continued.

"Apparently President Trump is going to get his way," Bennet said before the final vote on the deal, "and those tax credits are not going to be extended by the majority here — and the cost of health insurance in Colorado is going to increase by 200% for some people, 300% for some people, 400% for people that are living in rural areas in my state. That's thousands and thousands of dollars to a typical family that just doesn't have that kind of money."

Hickenlooper said in a statement that a failure to address "skyrocketing health care premiums" led to his "no" vote.

If a bill to extend the credits does not pass Congress, Hickenlooper thinks this will become an election year issue. But he'd like to see the two parties try to find a solution they can both live with.

"There are parts of the Affordable Care Act that I don't think work very well, and I would relish the idea of, let's … roll up our sleeves, both sides, and we'll take the things we really don't like from their proposals," he told CPR News. "They can bring up the things they really can't stand about our proposals, and then we can negotiate towards a better healthcare solution. What's crazy about that? That's called democracy in action."

The House is expected to vote on the compromise bill to the end the shutdown as early as Wednesday afternoon, after being out of session for 54 days.

Colorado's four House Democrats have all said they oppose the deal that passed the Senate.

Most House Republicans are expected to support the package, including Colorado's four GOP House members, who all voted for the temporary short-term funding bill on Sept. 19.

This story was produced by the Capitol News Alliance, a collaboration between KUNC News, Colorado Public Radio, Rocky Mountain PBS and The Colorado Sun, and shared with Rocky Mountain Community Radio and other news organizations across the state. Funding for the Alliance is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.