These 6 House Democrats voted for bill to end government shutdown

The funding plan that ended the longest government shutdown in modern U.S. history received support from a half-dozen Democrats — mostly moderates who represent competitive districts — when it passed the House on Wednesday night.

The bill, which President Trump signed into law on Wednesday, keep government open until January 30. It also reverses federal layoffs during the shutdown and includes three-year funding bills that cover military construction and the Department of Veterans Affairs; the Department of Agriculture and the FDA; and operations for the legislative branch.

It passed the Senate earlier this week after negotiations between Republicans and eight members of the chamber’s Democratic caucus, who voted for the bill in exchange for a GOP promise to hold a separate vote on extending expiring tax credits for health insurance.

Here’s a look at the House Democrats who voted yes:

Jared Golden from Maine

Rep. Jared Golden of Maine, a moderate representing the more rural parts of northern New England, was the only House Democrat to vote in favor of a Republican-backed measure. in September this would have avoided a government shutdown. When the lockdown began last month, he blamed it on the “harsh politics” of “far-left groups”.

In a social media post after Wednesday’s vote, he said he “voted to reopen the government, pay federal workers, and restart food aid and other essential programs.”

He also urged lawmakers to “take immediate action” to extend health insurance subsidies, which are set to expire at the end of this year.

“We still have a window to pass bipartisan legislation to expand these credits,” he said.

Golden won re-election last year by 0.6 percentage points, or just under 3,000 votes. The same year, Mr. Trump won in Golden’s district by about 9 points. He said last week he would not run for re-election next year, a decision he linked in part to the “unnecessary and harmful” closure.

Marie Gluesenkamp Pérez of Washington

Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington, known for occasionally breaking with her party, said in a statement that she “voted to end this partisan car crash of shutdown.”

“Americans cannot afford for their representatives to be so busy achieving a partisan victory that they abandon their obligation to come together to solve the pressing problems facing our country,” she wrote. “The last few weeks have been a case study in why most Americans can’t stand Congress. None of my friends who rely on SNAP would want to trade their dinner for an ambiguous ‘victory message’ on the DC Beltway and I’m glad that ugly scene is in the rearview mirror.”

She was re-elected by 3.8 points last year, after initially being elected to Congress by a 0.8-point margin in 2022.

Henry Cuellar of Texas

Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas, who has represented the Rio Grande Valley for more than 20 years, said in a statement that Washington’s “inaction has created unnecessary hardship for the communities I represent,” pointing to disruptions in food assistance. He urged Congress to next expand health insurance tax credits.

“The problem is when Democrats or Republicans think they’re winning at the end of a long shutdown, it’s the American public who loses,” Cuellar told NewsNation after the vote.

He was re-elected by 5.6 points last year.

Adam Gray from California

Rep. Adam Gray of California explained his vote in an article in the Turlock Journal, a newspaper in his Central Valley congressional district. He said he voted yes because the bill would continue funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program through the end of September, avoiding any further interruption of food assistance in the event of another shutdown.

“No parent should have to choose between feeding their children and keeping the lights on because someone in Washington thinks chaos is a negotiating tactic,” he wrote, accusing the Trump administration of “using vulnerable Americans as political leverage.”

He later said: “Is this a perfect match? No. But a sustainable policy in this country was not born from a hostage-taking. It was born from a compromise.

He pushed for an expansion of health insurance tax credits, but wrote: “Protecting families from hunger today will not prevent us from reducing health care costs tomorrow.” »

Gray won his first term in Congress by just 187 votes in 2024, after losing by 564 votes two years earlier.

Don Davis from North Carolina

Rep. Don Davis of North Carolina, whose already competitive district was redesigned this year and made more favorable to Republicanssaid an “increasing number of families have shared with me their daily suffering” during the shutdown.

He said in a statement that he voted for the bill to “alleviate suffering,” and in the hope that negotiations could take place on extending health insurance subsidies.

“Even though some politicians in both parties in Washington have failed rural communities, the battle for health care is not over,” Davis wrote.

Davis won re-election by 1.7 points last year.

Tom Suozzi from New York

Rep. Tom Suozzi of New York said on

But he added that “we cannot count on the White House, which has chosen to make this process unnecessarily painful,” pointing to the interruptions in food aid.

Suozzi was re-elected by 3.6 points in November. He previously represented his Long Island district for three terms, then left Congress in 2023 to run for governorand returned to the House in a special election in early 2024 to replace expelled GOP Rep. George Santos.