Oregon's senators are voting 'no' to end government shutdown. Here's why

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Oregon's two U.S senators say they are voting no on the deal to end the government shutdown after eight other senators in the Democratic caucus broke ranks to give Republicans the votes they need.

There will be more votes in the Senate on the compromise bill before it goes back to the House for final approval, but Sen. Jeff Merkley and Sen. Ron Wyden say they will continue to fight over the issue that stalled negotiations: Health care.

At 41 days, this is already the longest government shutdown in history. Oregonians have seen the effects, from a slowdown in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to cancelled airline flights and government workers not being paid.

The eight senators who crossed over say they needed to open the government back up with the promise that extending the Obamacare tax credits for health insurance will be considered after the resolution passes.

According to Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, “This has to end, and now the kinds of mass chaos that we've been facing. You know I’ve been one of the very few that have been voting consistently from the beginning that it’s always wrong to shut our government down.”

But without those credits, health care premiums for millions of Americans will skyrocket. Oregon Sen. Merkley said it is a bad deal.

“We did not fix the health care for 20 million Americans. We have a tremendous number of people in Oregon who are facing huge increases in their premiums, and I've talked to a lot of folks who say they're simply not going to buy insurance,” he said.

Rep. Maxine Dexter said the new compromise bill is not actually a compromise. Rather, she said, “This is being imposed, and people are caving at a time where Oregonians and Americans want us to stand up and fight for their access to health care.”

KOIN 6 News reached out to the only Republican in Oregon's Congressional delegation, Rep. Cliff Bentz. KOIN 6 expects to learn more from him on Tuesday.

Once the U.S. Senate votes, the resolution will move back to the House of Representatives. However, it could be Wednesday before that happens.

Stay with KOIN 6 News as this story develops.