State delegation votes against reopening government

The U.S. House voted Wednesday in favor of reopening the federal government after the longest shutdown in history. Connecticut's delegation, without exception, voted alongside their fellow Democrats against the funding measure.

The federal government was shut down for 44 days, the longest period in U.S. history, Democrats insisting that any funding bill include a continuation of pandemic-era enhanced tax credits for public health insurance. The closing of the government has affected SNAP benefits, airports and more.

A group of Senate Democrats crossed party lines and agreed to fund federal governmental operations if their Republican colleagues agreed to hold a vote on the tax credits before the end of the year. Those Democrats were Jared Golden of Maine, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington, Henry Cuellar of Texas, Adam Gray of California, Don Davis of North Carolina, and Tom Suozzi of New York.

Democrats opposed to the measure say that without those tax credits, the cost of health insurance will increase across the board, but most notably for people relying on public health care.

"For the last few weeks, I have heard from countless constituents who are seeing their medical bills skyrocket with the expiration of the ACA enhanced premium tax credits," U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-4th District, said in a news release after the vote. "I voted against this 'compromise' because it fails to offer a clear pathway to lower healthcare costs for Connecticut's families."

According to independent health care analyst KFF, previously known as Kaiser Family Foundation, health care premiums will increase significantly should the tax credits expire as they are scheduled to in January, as much as 75% for millions of Americans.

"This bill is a failure. This bill fails to prevent health care costs from skyrocketing," U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd District, said in a news release. "It fails to address the crisis of affordability. It fails to honor our promise to our veterans. It fails to protect Congress's power of the purse. And it provides a million-dollar jackpot to eight Senators."

The vote was held late Wednesday after House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana kept the House in recess for the duration of the shutdown. A total of 222 House representatives voted in favor, six Democrats among them. Two Republicans voted alongside 209 Democrats against the measure.

"The legislation before the U.S. House of Representatives is not a clean continuing resolution - it is an egregious failure to the American people and does nothing to address the health care crisis that will increase costs for more than 20 million Americans, including 23,000 people living in the Fifth District," said U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-5th District.

Hayes and Himes were joinred by U.S. Reps. Joe Courtney, John Larson and Rosa DeLauo in voting against the reopening.