WA leaders cast blame over federal government shutdown: ‘Stop playing games’

As the federal government shutdown drags into its fourth week, Washington politicians on both sides of the partisan divide are casting blame on one another.

U.S. Rep. Emily Randall, a Democrat, held a news conference about the shutdown at the state Capitol on Wednesday. The message? Republicans’ refusal to negotiate a solution to reopen the government is hurting folks in Washington state and nationwide.

Democrats, for their parts, have been demanding an extension to enhanced premium tax credits (ePTCs) for Affordable Care Act (ACA) health insurance.

Randall said the work ahead is challenging because “we have no strong partners across the aisle in Washington, D.C.” or the White House.

“We are facing a health-care crisis, and are seeing the Republican Party refuse to participate in ensuring that we are saving lives and saving health care across the country,” she said.

But over the weekend, her Washington colleague — Republican U.S. Rep. Michael Baumgartner — put the fault at the feet of Senate Dems.

“This is not a game,” Baumgartner told reporters Oct. 19. “There are real people suffering from the shutdown.”

Wednesday marked day 22 of the shutdown, making it the second-longest lapse in federal funding in the nation’s history. The first-longest shutdown, which started in December 2018, lasted 35 days and also happened while President Donald Trump was in the White House.

Democrats are pushing to ensure any funding bill includes an extension to the expiring tax credits, which are slated to evaporate at the end of 2025. They’ve warned that without the subsidies, health care costs will sharply spike next year for millions of Americans.

Republicans are holding out on health-care negotiations until the end of the shutdown. Still, with only 53 seats in the Senate and a 60-vote threshold to pass funding bills, they need the votes of a handful of Democrats to get the government up and running.

Here’s what Washington’s leaders say is at stake in the federal shutdown. Randall holds news conference on shutdown

On Wednesday, Randall was joined by other state officials at a news event at the Washington state Capitol in Olympia. The freshman Congress member said she’d wanted to shine a light on how the shutdown is hitting regular residents, especially women, caregivers and parents, and those feeling the heat from rising health-care costs.

Randall said many Head Start facilities are on the brink of losing funding Nov. 1. This comes amid ongoing health- and child-care crises, she said.

“And what this administration has done, and what the Republicans in Congress have rubber-stamped, have been drastic life-changing cuts to the programs that our neighbors across the state rely on,” Randall said.

The Seattle Times reported on Oct. 22 that a Ballard-based freelance marketing consultant who currently pays less than $400 a month for insurance, with the help of ePTCs, was shocked to learn her premium is set to jump to more than $2,100 next year.

Olivia McGuire, a parent of two neurodivergent children, said at Wednesday’s event that during the shutdown, there have been mass layoffs at the federal Office of Special Education Programs. The shutdown also jeopardizes SNAP and WIC, she added, and Section 8 housing is facing delays that could drive families into homelessness.

Washington state Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer said Wednesday that the state’s historically low uninsured rate of 4.8% is at risk of rising because of the credits’ expiration and health-care cuts under H.R. 1, the sweeping tax and spending bill signed into law by Trump on July 4.

Kuderer noted that there will be an average 21% rate hike for 2026 ACA marketplace exchange plans. Up to 7% of that increase is because of the expiring ePTCs, she said.

Such subsidies are needed for folks to pay for and keep coverage, she said. Without them, up to 80,000 residents may drop their insurance altogether, putting greater strain on the overall health-care system as people delay preventative care.

“This week, the president is literally demolishing part of the White House to build his $250 million gilded ballroom while the federal government remains shut down,” she said. “Republicans need to stop playing games with people’s health care and extend the enhanced premium tax credits without making changes, and without further delay.” Baumgartner on the government shutdown

Baumgartner told reporters Sunday it’s “extremely disappointing” that the shutdown is ongoing.

The Republican said at the virtual media availability that real people are hurting due to the stalemate, including furloughed federal employees and workers who are missing paychecks. Airport functions like air-traffic control and TSA are also getting hit.

Baumgartner gave Trump props for paying active-duty military personnel in the short term but said the strategy isn’t sustainable in the long run.

He also cited a recent report about the large number of staff who safeguard and monitor nuclear weapons facilities who’ve been furloughed: “So that’s extremely concerning.”

The Trump administration hasn’t held back in railing against Democrats over the shutdown. Certain federal agency websites, including that of the U.S. Forest Service, overtly say that the Dems are the root of the shutdown problem.

Meanwhile, video of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem blasting Democrats over the shutdown has played at some airports.

U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse, an Eastern Washington Republican, states on his website that he’d supported a House-passed package that would continue funding the government until Nov. 21, but that it has yet to clear the Senate.

Baumgartner said that there’s always time for health-care discussions, “but we’re not going to do it as part of a quid pro quo for ending a government shutdown.”

In his view, Democrats are trying to appease their base, which is frustrated with their leadership for being ineffective and weak. He likened their stance to an “unproductive temper tantrum.”

“We need the Senate Democrats to do the right thing,” Baumgartner said.

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