New Hampshire’s two U.S. senators often highlight their bipartisan efforts.
This weekend, as the blame game flared in the nation’s capital over which political party was at fault for the federal government shutdown, Democrats Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie joined a gang of two dozen senators who powwowed for hours in hopes of reaching an agreement to end the shutdown.
The bipartisan group of senators, known as the Common Sense Coalition, met Friday night through Monday morning in the offices of Sen. Susan Collins. The moderate Republican from Maine first formed the group five years ago, to bring an end to the last federal government shutdown.
“We have shown that a determined group of senators working together across the aisle can result in positive action. In this case the reopening of government,” Collins told reporters Monday after the Senate voted overwhelmingly in favor of deal.
The agreement, passed later in the day by the U.S. House, would fund the federal government through Feb. 8. It would also reauthorize for six years the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which provides low-cost health coverage to children from families that earn too much to qualify for Medicaid. And it also would roll back several health care taxes.
As it had been for days, the controversial part of the deal centered on illegal immigration.
Liberals and immigration activists heavily criticized the agreement by Senate Democrats to reopen the government in exchange for the promise by Senate Republicans to hold a vote by mid-February on a bill that would extend protections to thousands of young undocumented immigrants who are losing legal protections. Those protections for the so-called Dreamers, through the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, are set to expire in two months.
“What we shared in common was the determination to reopen government and convince our leaders that there is a path forward that will accommodate those of us who are concerned about the fate of the ‘Dreamers,’ ” Collins said in a statement.
But critics on the left said there was no guarantee by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to hold a Senate vote on a bill to extend the protection for ‘Dreamers.’
Sen. Angus King of Maine, an independent who’s also part of the “Common Sense Coalition,” voiced optimism about the potential talks.
“This will be the first time we’ve had an immigration discussion on the floor of the U.S. Senate in five years,” King said.
And King, who caucuses with Senate Democrats, added that “getting Mitch McConnell on public record saying this will happen is a big deal.”
The end of the three-day shutdown, which is lifted with President Donald Trump’s signature, was termed “a very positive development” by Shaheen.
But many Republicans blasted Shaheen, Hassan and other Democrats for agreeing now to basically the same deal that they rejected late last week.
In the State House, Republican Gov. Chris Sununu praised the extension of CHIP but still took a dig at the Democrats’ part in the standoff.
“I am pleased that Senators Shaheen and Hassan ultimately put politics aside and listened to the people of New Hampshire,” he said.
Shaheen said the major change since Friday was a commitment by Senate Republican leadership “to work on the longer-term challenge to fund the government in a way that ends the short-term continuing resolutions, an agreement to actually addressing DACA on the floor of the Senate in a way that is neutral, that gives people on both sides of the issue an opportunity to offer amendments and have a voting process to do that and a real commitment on those issues.”
Shaheen highlighted the bipartisan group’s efforts “to help break the deadlock and reach an agreement.”
“There was a lot of trust that was established in this group that will help us as we continue to address some of the bigger challenges that led to this shutdown,” she said.
Hassan said the group would now focus on reaching a long-term budget agreement and ending the current practice of funding the government by continuing resolutions.
“We have a bipartisan working group now committed to moving forward on all of these issues and getting us also beyond the point where we are funding our government on repeated short-term continuing resolutions,” Hassan said.
Trump applauded the deal to end the shutdown as he criticized congressional Democrats.
“I am pleased that Democrats in Congress have come to their senses and are now willing to fund our great military, border patrol, first responders and insurance for vulnerable children,” he said in a statement Monday afternoon.
Critics of the president noted that he appeared absent from the negotiations over the weekend to end the impasse.
“I’m disappointed that the President was missing in action from our discussions,” Shaheen told reporters. “It’s disappointing that we didn’t have that leadership.”