Shreve
U.S. House members representing parts of Bartholomew County voted Wednesday night in favor of legislation to reopen the government and end the longest shutdown in history.
Rep. Jefferson Shreve, R-Ind., and Rep. Erin Houchin, R-Ind., voted in favor of the legislation, which includes three annual spending bills and extends the rest of government funding through Jan. 30, according to congressional records.
The measure cleared the House in a 222-209 vote. Hours later, President Donald Trump signed the bill into law, ending a record 43-day shutdown. The Senate passed the measure on Monday in a 60-40 vote, with Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., and Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., voting in favor of it.
“This evening, I voted to reopen our government after weeks of costly delay in the Senate,” Shreve said in a statement following the vote. “Too many Hoosier families were caught in the middle while Washington played politics. This shutdown didn’t solve a thing — it just created real headaches for the people who count on federal services to work. It was past time to restore some stability and get this government operating again. I’m glad we’re back on track.”
Houchin, for her part, said in a statement on X, “Tonight, thanks to Republicans in Congress, the continuing resolution to fund the government through January 30 is headed to President Trump’s desk.”
The agreement includes bipartisan bills worked out by the Senate Appropriations Committee to fund parts of government — food aid, veterans programs and the legislative branch, among other things, The Associated Press reported. All other funding would be extended until the end of January, giving lawmakers more than two months to finish additional spending bills.
Now that the longest government shutdown in history has come to an end, almost no one is happy with the final result, according to wire reports.
Democrats didn’t get the health insurance provisions they demanded added to the spending deal. And Republicans, who control the levers of power in Washington, didn’t escape blame, according to polls and some state and local elections that went poorly for them.
The fallout of the shutdown landed on millions of Americans, including federal workers who went without paychecks and airline passengers who had their trips delayed or canceled, according to wire reports. An interruption in nutrition assistance programs contributed to long lines at food banks and added emotional distress going into the holiday season.
Democrats made several demands to win their support for a short-term funding bill, but the central one was an extension of an enhanced tax credit that lowers the cost of health coverage obtained through Affordable Care Act marketplaces.
The tax credit was boosted during the COVID-19 pandemic response, again through President Joe Biden’s big energy and health care bill, and it’s set to expire at the end of December, according to wire reports. Without it, premiums on average will more than double for millions of Americans. More than 2 million people would lose health insurance coverage altogether next year, the Congressional Budget Office projected.
This year, 3,516 Bartholomew County residents received the subsidies under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) — about 4% of the county’s population — according to the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, which tracks enrollment through the ACA.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., eventually promised Democrats a December vote on the tax credit extension to help resolve the standoff, but many Democrats demanded a guaranteed fix, not just a vote that is likely to fail, according to wire reports.
It’s unclear whether the parties will find any common ground on health care before the December vote in the Senate. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has said he will not commit to bringing it up in his chamber.
At the same time, roughly 6 in 10 Americans say Trump and Republicans in Congress have “a great deal” or “quite a bit” of responsibility for the shutdown, while 54% say the same about Democrats in Congress, according to the poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
At least three-quarters of Americans believe each deserves at least a “moderate” share of blame, underscoring that no one was successfully evading responsibility.
Both parties looked to the Nov. 4 elections in Virginia, New Jersey and elsewhere for signs of how the shutdown was influencing public opinion, according to the AP. Democrats took comfort in their overwhelming successes. Trump called it a “big factor, negative” for Republicans. But it did not change the GOP’s stance on negotiating. Instead, Trump ramped up calls for Republicans to end the filibuster in the Senate, which would pretty much eliminate the need for the majority party to ever negotiate with the minority.
For their part, Shreve and Houchin have been pointing their fingers at Democrats for the partisan standoff over health care and spending that triggered the shutdown.
In October, Shreve initially said, “House Republicans have done our job to pass legislation and keep the federal government open.”
However, Shreve was one of three House members, and the only Republican, who did not cast a vote on the stopgap measure in September to avert a shutdown, according to congressional records. His staff said, “Rep. Shreve would have supported the measure had he been present. He filed a yes in the official legislative congressional record.”
The congressional record shows that Shreve cast other votes that day, including one eight minutes before the vote on the Republican-led measure and another nine minutes afterwards. When asked about his abrupt absence, his staff said, “Rep. Shreve was conducting official congressional business at the time when the vote closed before he was able to register his yes on the (continuing resolution).”
Shreve later issued a statement saying, ”House Republicans have done our job to pass legislation and keep the government open. Hoosiers should not have to pay the price because Democrats insist on playing politics. They have repeatedly voted against a clean, bipartisan funding bill—threatening vital government services and putting hardworking families at risk. I will not accept pay during any shutdown period. Instead, I will later donate that pay to the Johnson County Boys and Girls Club in Franklin. Hoosiers expect a government that works for them—and that’s the standard I’m holding myself to.”
On Wednesday, Shreve criticized Senate Democrats.
“After weeks of costly delays from Senate Democrats, I voted this evening to reopen our federal government,” Shreve said in a statement Wednesday on X. “It’s frustrating that politics came before people — while Hoosier families saw disruptions to SNAP and WIC benefits, federal workers missed paychecks, and seniors faced longer wait times for the services they rely on. The Democrat-led shutdown didn’t accomplish a thing. It’s time to restore stability, get services running again, and keep government working for Hoosiers.”
Houchin voted in favor of the stopgap measure, according to congressional records. She also blamed what she described last month as “radical left Democrats” for the impasse.
On Wednesday, she described the health care subsidies and other requests from Democrats as a “liberal wish list.”
“For 42 days, Democrats held the American people hostage over a $1.5 trillion liberal wish list, inflicting pain on millions for nothing more than political theater,” Houchin said in a post on X. “Federal workers, law enforcement officers, and air traffic controllers went without pay. Families who rely on WIC and SNAP saw reduced or delayed assistance.”
— The Associated Press contributed to this report.
