A last-minute effort by Democratic congressional leaders and top Republican officials to negotiate a plan to fund the government past Sept. 30 failed earlier Monday.
With the federal government barreling toward a shutdown at midnight Tuesday, Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego says Democrats are holding out to protect Americans’ access to affordable health care.
“Americans are hurting right now,” Gallego said. “The cost of everything is going through the roof. And this is the time and the place for us to make sure we don’t add to that by protecting health care and making sure your premiums don’t go up.”
In an appearance on Fox News, Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs cast blame on Democrats, whose votes are needed in the Senate to pass a continuing resolution that House Republicans adopted earlier this month.
That legislation would fund the government through mid-November.
“It just needs a few Democrats to come over and vote for it, and right now the Democrats are trying to leverage everything they can, but they’re the ones who are gonna cause a shutdown,” Biggs said.
Democrats have insisted that a funding bill restore Affordable Care Act tax cuts that are set to expire at the end of the year, as well as repeal cuts to other health care programs Republicans adopted in President Donald Trump’s massive tax cut and spending package earlier this summer.
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Nearly 1,800 formerly homeless Arizonans could be at risk of losing shelter as the Trump administration seeks a major overhaul of federal funding for homelessness programs. -
FEMA has awarded about $700,000 to Arizona and the Havasupai Tribe to fund hazard mitigation projects. The money came from a program the federal agency had nixed but was reinstated by the courts earlier this year. -
Phoenix households cut from SNAP can apply for a $600 credit toward their APS or SRP electric bill and $100 for gas or public transportation. -
Planned Parenthood Arizona clinics are once again providing care for patients insured through Medicaid. Services for Medicaid patients had been on pause since September. -
The U.S. Agriculture Department says Arizona’s error rate for food stamp applications was 10.8%; that’s higher than the national rate of 10.6%. If that number doesn’t come down, it’ll cost the state in penalties, thanks to provisions in the "Big Beautiful Bill Act."
