Democratic Rep. Jared Golden (Maine) criticized “far-left groups” for demanding Democrats vote against a Republican-backed proposal to fund the government.
“This government shutdown is the result of hardball politics driven by the demands far-left groups are making for Democratic Party leaders to put on a show of their opposition to President Trump,” Golden said in a Wednesday statement.
Golden was the lone Democrat to vote for the GOP funding bill, which passed the House 217-212 on Sept. 19.
In a statement the day of the vote, Golden’s office pointed to the impacts a shutdown would have on the more than 12,000 federal workers in Maine and argued a closure would give the president “extraordinary leeway in determining which aspects of government are ‘essential,’ and which can be shuttered.”
The Republican funding bill, dubbed “clean” and “nonpartisan” by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), would have funded the government through Nov. 21. It was voted down Tuesday in the Senate, though, with just three members of the Senate Democratic caucus — John Fetterman (Pa.), Catherine Cortez Masto (Nev.) and Angus King (Maine), an independent who caucuses with the Democrats — voting in favor. Republican Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) voted against the proposal.
On Wednesday, Senate Democrats blocked a motion to advance the GOP funding bill once again.
A Democratic-sponsored proposal was also voted down in the upper chamber Tuesday and Wednesday, with all 53 Senate Republicans opposing. The bill would have funded the government through October, permanently extended premium subsidies offered under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and restored nearly $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts.
In his Wednesday statement, Golden said he opposed the cuts to Medicaid, which were included in the massive budget package signed into law by Trump in July. He said he is also in favor of extending the ACA subsidies, originally passed during the COVID-19 pandemic and extended through the end of this year by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.
To receive the subsidy, a person’s household income must be no more than 400 percent of the federal poverty line, among other criteria, according to the IRS.
Conservative groups have asked the president to allow the subsidies to expire, but millions could lose health insurance coverage or see their premiums increase come 2026 if that happens.
Golden said Tuesday that while Republicans have “reasonable concerns about tax credits going to high-income households,” a negotiation, not a shutdown, is the best path forward.
“There’s room and time to negotiate,” he added. “But normal policy disagreements are no reason to subject our constituents to the continued harm of this shutdown.”