WASHINGTON (WCAX) – The clock continues to tick on the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. After 37 days, people in our region continue to feel the impact of the shutdown, from food stamps to heating to fuel benefits, and now on the airline industry.
So how close are lawmakers to a deal?
Many of you have asked why Democrats won’t sign onto a continuing resolution known as a “clean CR,” which is a temporary funding bill to keep the government operating.
But some in the Democratic caucus, including Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, fear agreeing to any short-term deal means they will lose leverage in their fight over health care subsidies.
“For the first time that anyone can remember, Republicans have said it is our way or the highway,” said Sanders, I-Vermont.
“Republicans feel very helpless about the situation because, as we’ve noted, there is really nothing for us to negotiate,” said U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, said.
The finger-pointing on Capitol Hill continues.
Vermont’s congressional delegation says they’re fighting for health care tax credits that nearly 30,000 Vermonters rely on.
“I’m hearing from people who are looking at a tripling or a quadrupling of their health insurance premiums,” Sanders said.
The fate of those subsidies is keeping both sides at a stalemate and the government shuttered.
Sanders says he won’t vote for any bill in the Senate until he gets assurances that Republicans will guarantee the health care funding will get the approval of the House and the president. But House Speaker Mike Johnson says top lawmakers aren’t willing to make back-door deals.
“Health care is very complicated. It is very complex, and it is not something four people can go in a smoke, smoke-filled room in the back and make a deal on. I reject it,” Johnson said.
Sanders says anything else is an empty gesture.
“What we desperately need is an agreement on legislation that will really and truly protect the health care needs of the American people,” he said.
In an interview with our Washington, D.C., bureau this week, New Hampshire Democratic Rep. Maggie Goodlander pushed back on Johnson’s statement that the job of the House is done.
“This is an insult to every American who sees that our government is not open. That under this leadership, Congress is literally crumbling before our very eyes. I really believe that there is a pathway to reopening the government,” Goodlander said.
A bipartisan group of senators continues to hold discussions in hopes of reopening the government. If a deal is reached, it would still take several days for the bill to be processed in both the Senate and the House.
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