Maine's congressional delegation was divided Friday over a short-term funding bill designed to keep the federal government open until late November.
The measure cleared the House but stalled in the Senate amid Democrats' demands that it include extending health insurance subsidies — used by more than 54,000 Mainers via the Affordable Care Act — that are set to expire later this year. The stalemate increases chances the government will shut down at the end of the month.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Jared Golden was the lone Democrat to join House Republicans in voting for the bill, which mostly extended current spending through November but added $88 million to beef up security for Congress and the executive branch.
Golden argued that the stopgap bill would buy Congress more time to negotiate a longer-term proposal without the pain of a shutdown, which he said would give President Donald Trump more sweeping powers.
“There’s a lot of important work to be done in Congress, none of which will be any easier if Mainers are suffering the harms of a government shutdown,” Golden said in a statement. “At the top of my mind are critical conversations around the need to prevent health care price spikes and lost coverage for millions of Americans."
He added, "With the Republican trifecta, there's no path forward on health care without GOP support. That’s why I remain focused on my bipartisan effort to extend the ACA enhanced premium tax credits that make coverage affordable for Mainers."
U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree voted against the measure, arguing that the bill should include an extension of the health insurance subsidies.
"If that credit goes away at the end of the year, many will no longer be able to afford insurance," she posted on social media. "In some places, premiums could rise by 70% or more."
Most Democrats in the Senate, as well as independent Sen. Angus King, also opposed the bill. They argued it should include an extension of health insurance subsidies set to expire later this year and reverse Medicaid cuts recently enacted by Republicans.
Senate Democrats tried to pass a separate funding bill including those provisions, but it was defeated by the Republican majority.
Speaking from the floor, Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins described the Democrats' proposal as a partisan bill loaded with "poison pills."
"I urge my colleagues to abandon this brinksmanship that does not serve the American people well, that is unworthy of this Senate, and adopt this straightforward bill sent to us by the House, which the President is willing to sign into law without any further delay and which will avoid a completely unnecessary and harmful shut down of government," she said.
Collins supported the stopgap measure, which failed to obtain the 60 votes needed to pass.
