HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) — Ahead of the Senate vote set to decide if the U.S. will face a government shutdown, News 19 spoke to several congressmen from Alabama who described the process to get to Tuesday’s vote.
“We’re on a good start,” Rep. Robert Aderholt said. “We need more time, and this CR just simply gives us more time.”
The Continuing Resolution was designed to fund the government until November without increasing spending. Aderholt said both the House and the Senate have a lot of negotiating left to do.
Democrats have voted down the Republican spending bill, greatly increasing the likelihood of a shutdown. Without another vote Tuesday night, the shutdown will take effect at midnight.
Though Republicans hold the majority in the Senate, 60 votes are needed to pass spending legislation. Seven Democrats have to vote “yes.”
Rep. Terri Sewell, a Democrat representing part of Central Alabama, said she does not feel Republicans were open to negotiating ahead of the vote. She, like many in her party, has concerns about an Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credit set to expire at the end of the year.
“I think that the fact that they also won’t expand the ACA tax credits, to me, only increases the burden that this Republican health care crisis has caused for American people,” Sewell said. “In my district alone, 53,000 people would lose their health care insurance or have their insurance premiums increase at the ACA tax credits were not passed.”
Aderholt said Republicans do not want to concede on the ACA, also referred to as Obamacare.
“In some of those Obamacare subsidies are payments to illegal citizens, that are getting health care payments, and I think we’ve got to be very careful in how we proceed with that, because most Americans don’t want to see the taxpayer dollars go to somebody that’s not here legally,” Aderholt said.
North Alabama is home to thousands of federal workers who would feel the impact of a lengthy shutdown. Rep. Dale Strong said Tuesday he is concerned about those who work on Redstone Arsenal.
“I don’t think a government shutdown is good for anybody,” Strong said. “I think it will cost us more if the government is shut down, and you reopen it. It’s a very costly process to do that.”
Aderholt is a part of the conference committee that works out the differences in the appropriation bills as they pass between the House and Senate. He said the committee is scheduled to meet for more negotiations next week.
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