New Hampshire’s two U.S. senators agreed to a deal that could end the federal government shutdown.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a key player in negotiations by Democrats to extend health insurance subsidies, and Sen. Maggie Hassan both gave their approval for the Senate to proceed toward a vote on a short-term spending bill that would reopen the government.
Democrats had held out for nearly six weeks, demanding the extension of healthcare subsidies that expired Nov. 1. Their deal with Republicans, struck Sunday night, doesn’t guarantee that. Instead, the plan would extend the rest of government funding until late January in exchange for a mid-December vote on extending the health care tax credits.
Shaheen, who’s retiring at the end of her current term, said in a statement that the agreement would give Democrats control of the Senate floor with a chance to save the health care subsidies. She’s been a lead sponsor of this effort for years and was a key player in shutdown negotiations.
“There is no one in the Senate who wants to see these tax credits extended more than me,” Shaheen said. “But weeks of negotiations with Republicans have made clear that they will not address health care as part of shutdown talks — and that waiting longer will only prolong the pain Americans are feeling because of the shutdown.”
Hassan said that over the past several weeks, she’s heard from New Hampshire residents who cannot afford increased healthcare costs that would come with the expiring health care subsidies and those who have been negatively impacted by the government shutdown.
“After weeks of bipartisan conversations, I voted today to reopen the government so that we can get back to the work of helping Granite Staters,” Hassan said in a statement. “This agreement funds SNAP and food assistance programs, ensures that law enforcement, air traffic controllers, and other federal workers get paid, reverses the President’s recent reckless layoffs and prevents them from happening in the future, and, crucially, gives Congress a clear path forward to protecting people’s health care.”
Not everyone feels that way.
Michelle Lawrence, a cancer patient from Henniker, said she sent letters to her members of Congress urging them to extend the health care subsidies. She’s not on marketplace insurance but uses Medicaid and Medicare and, due to other changes by the Trump administration this year, expects her costs to go up.
Though she realizes the shutdown has caused thousands of people to lose their jobs and millions to lose food assistance, among other impacts, she said she’s disappointed now that Democratic lawmakers have been “pressured” to acquiesce.
“It’s a lose-lose situation, and so you have to choose your lesser of two evils, I think,” Lawrence said.
Shaheen and Hassan struck the deal, but the other two Granite Staters in Congress say they’ll vote against it if and when the time comes.
Rep. Chris Pappas, a Democrat who represents New Hampshire’s first district, disapproved of the plan. The Speaker of the House, Louisiana Republican Mike Johnson, hasn’t committed to allowing a vote on the health care subsidies.
“The deal reached in the Senate on government funding fails to prevent a massive increase in health insurance costs for families and small businesses, and for that reason I can’t support it,” Pappas said in a statement. “I’ll keep fighting to get legislation to the House floor that will extend premium tax credits, but just hoping Speaker Johnson will do the right thing isn’t good enough for New Hampshire.”
Pappas, who’s running for Shaheen’s seat in the Senate next year and secured her endorsement, sponsored a bill to extend the open enrollment period to May 1, 2026, as the discussion plays out.
Rep. Maggie Goodlander, who represents New Hampshire’s second district, is also a lead sponsor on that effort. She’s also working on legislation to try and prevent future government shutdowns.
“The Senate’s proposal rests on a hope that the President and Speaker Johnson will allow a vote to address this healthcare emergency and end the shutdown, but hope is not a strategy or an acceptable plan,” Goodlander said in a statement. “That’s why I cannot accept this proposal and why I will not stop working to reach a durable, bipartisan solution that protects the healthcare of millions of Americans, drives down costs, keeps the government open, and puts New Hampshire families first.”
The agreement also includes a reversal of the mass firings of federal workers by the Trump administration since the shutdown began on Oct. 1 and would ensure that federal workers receive back pay.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune quickly endorsed the deal and called an immediate vote to begin the process of approving it as the shutdown continued to disrupt flights nationwide, threaten food assistance for millions of Americans and leave federal workers without pay.
“The time to act is now,” Thune said.
Returning to the White House on Sunday evening after attending a football game, President Donald Trump did not say whether he endorsed the deal. But he said, “It looks like we’re getting close to the shutdown ending.”
Sunday’s vote is merely the start of the process, and once the agreement passes the Senate, it’ll also face a vote in the House of Representatives and approval from Trump.
This is a developing story and will be updated as new information becomes available.