Two bills to avert a government shutdown each went down to defeat in the Senate on Friday.
One of the proposals, a continuing resolution that would keep the federal government funded up through Nov. 21, cleared the U.S. House of Representatives 217-212.
Reps. Melanie Stansbury, D-NM-01, Gabe Vasquez, D-NM-02, and Teresa Leger Fernandez, D-NM-03, voted with all Democrats and Republican Reps. Thomas Massie, R-KY-04 and Victoria Spartz, R-IN-05, against passage. The only Democrat to break ranks and vote for it was Rep. Jared Golden, D-ME-02.
However, that measure was rejected in the U.S. Senate 48-44. New Mexico Democratic Senators Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján, joined all Democrats as well as Republican Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Rand Paul of Kentucky in voting against the continuing resolution. Another eight Republicans were absent, leaving the bill far short of the 60 votes needed for passage.
The votes came as federal government funding is set to lapse on Oct. 1. Democrats have been against a short-term funding bill that does not include permanent funding for premium tax credits scheduled to expire at the end of the year and that would undo cuts to federal Medicaid funding that were included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that President Donald Trump signed into law in July.
Following the vote in the Senate, Heinrich stated in a press release that if funding for the government lapses, it will be because of Republicans who control the White House and both houses of Congress.
“The American people deserve a government funding bill that protects their health care from unsustainable price hikes, lowers costs, and ensures that this Administration follows the rule of law. But Trump and Republicans are refusing to negotiate a bipartisan government funding bill that does this — recklessly pushing us closer to a government shutdown that will have devastating consequences for working families,” Heinrich said.
Senators also took up a proposal backed by Senate Democrats that also fell far short of the supermajority needed to pass. It garnered 47 votes. That proposal would have funded the government up through Oct. 31, but would have made the premium tax credits permanent, repealed a section of the One Big Beautiful Bill that cut Medicaid funding and restricted the Office of Management and Budget from impounding spending approved by Congress.
Luján blasted Republicans for defeating the bill.
“Our proposal would have kept the federal government open and prevented millions of Americans from being hit with the largest health insurance premium increases in over a decade. By rejecting it, Republicans are guaranteeing that families will soon begin receiving notices warning their premiums are about to skyrocket,” Luján said in a press release. He added that Republicans will need to work with Democrats to win passage of any funding bill.
Your reporting is biased and very one sided. It is bad enough that you report on everything that our Democrat senators say but don’t write about the rebuttal by GOP congress members about the topics you write about.