Nassau County’s two Democratic U.S. representatives split on whether the federal government should reopen, with U.S. Rep. Laura Gillen voting no and saying that the resolution did not do enough for healthcare, and U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi voting yes, saying that the process had been painful enough.
The longest government shutdown in U.S. history concluded on Wednesday, Nov. 12, after Congress passed a continuing resolution and President Donald Trump signed legislation to reopen the federal government.
The shutdown began on October 1, when Republican and Democratic lawmakers failed to reach an agreement to fund the government, and it lasted for 43 days, over a week longer than the previous record shutdown.
The U.S. Senate passed a continuing resolution on Monday, Nov. 10, sending the legislation to the House. The vote passed 222-209, largely along party lines, with Republicans voting to reopen the government and all but six Democrats voting against it.
Suozzi was one of the six Democrats who voted in favor of the bill when it came before the House.
“If my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are willing to work together to address this health insurance affordability crisis by extending the premium tax credits, then we will have accomplished something meaningful,” he said on X in a statement.
Suozzi also said in his social media post that the White House made it difficult for people who rely on SNAP during the shutdown.
Gillen had said before the bill reached the House that she would not support it, saying that it is a “betrayal of Nassau County families.”
“The spending bill passed today does nothing to prevent hardworking Long Islanders from being priced out of their health care,” she said on X after the vote. “I voted no.”
Gillen said the legislation did not assist with rising healthcare costs, something many Democrats had fought for throughout the shutdown.
“We are facing a healthcare and cost-of-living crisis in this country,” she said in an interview with Schneps Media Long Island. ‘It’s getting harder and harder for Americans to make ends meet. We’re supposed to be working together to make people’s lives more affordable and that’s not what’s happening.”
The continuing resolution only funds the government through Jan. 30, rather than providing the government a full-year budget. Gillen said she will continue to advocate for affordable healthcare.
“We need to tackle this problem and we need to do it in a bipartisan fashion,” she said.
The government shut down after Democrats and Republicans failed to reach a deal on federal funding. Democrats had pushed for a bill that would have extended health care subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, while the GOP backed a bill that continued funding as it was for another month.
Government programs suffered major setbacks during the shutdown, as millions of people went without SNAP benefits and thousands of government employees were furloughed or worked without pay.
New York and many other states engaged in back-and-forth legal battles over SNAP funding during the shutdown, leaving millions throughout the country and nearly 200,000 people on Long Island in limbo.
Some of the most publicized federal employees during the shutdown were air traffic control workers, as many called out of work due to the lack of pay. This resulted in numerous flight disruptions throughout the country.
Throughout the shutdown, House Democrats pushed for healthcare legislation to be included in the resolution, while House Republicans said they would work on a solution once the government was funded.
U.S. Reps. Andrew Garbarino and Nick LaLota, both Republicans who represent Suffolk County, voted in favor of the resolution.
