The ongoing federal government shutdown is approaching an important deadline at the end of the month. Arizona Democratic and Republican lawmakers alike urge an immediate end to the shutdown.
Several federal programs including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, and Head Start are expected to crash on Nov. 1.
It’s also the start of open enrollment under the Affordable Care Act.
“The premium issue, that's going to become very real for people in a matter of about a week and a half. We can solve it and that addresses all these issues,” Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly said.
Kelly is referring to ACA subsidies. If they aren’t extended in time, premiums will spike for millions of Americans.
Kelly accused President Donald Trump of not putting any real time into negotiating on the ACA issue with Congress.
But Republicans, like Arizona Congressman Eli Crane argue the program doesn't really work and that Democrats want to extend it to make sure undocumented immigrants get health care, even though undocumented people don’t qualify for it.
“This just goes to show that it's all about politics for them, it's all about the fact that they hate what the Trump administration is doing, how much they’re winning and they’re stomping their feet like little children,” Crane said.
He also said he’s proud of Republicans for not bending to the Democrats’ demands.
“If we start folding now and giving into their demands early, it's going to be a long three years, brother,” Crane said.
Neither party has the 60 votes needed to put an end to it until lawmakers can come to an agreement.
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Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs says she won’t give in to the Trump administration’s threat to withhold SNAP funding unless states hand over data about the program’s recipients. -
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