An end seems to be coming to the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.
Forty-three days in, the U.S. House will convene Wednesday to vote on a bill to reopen the government. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II, a Democrat from Kansas City, says he’ll vote no.
Cleaver opposes the plan already passed by the Senate on Monday because it doesn’t extend tax credits for the Affordable Care Act. Health care costs are expected to jump for millions of Americans if the credits are not extended.
Cleaver says he’s received many phone calls and letters urging him to vote against the budget resolutions.
“I never even entertained it seriously once I saw what the deal was. But I'm representing my district,” Cleaver told KCUR’s Up To Date.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, has promised a vote on the Affordable Care Act subsidies once the government is back open. But House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana has not promised the same for the House.
That’s a concern for Cleaver, too.
The House vote to reopen the government may be tight, NPR reports. Once it passes, it will fund the government through Jan. 30, 2026. Congress will need to reach a deal by then to avoid another shutdown.
Kansas City’s 30,000 federal workers are currently furloughed or working without pay during the shutdown. They are entitled to back pay once it ends, as a result of a law passed after the 2018-2019 shutdowns, but federal workers have said the lost paychecks have hurt them financially.
- Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II, Democrat, Missouri’s 5th District
