Kansas congressional delegation divides along partisan line on bill ending shutdown

U.S. Rep. Tracey Mann, the 1st District congressman from Kansas, says he was glad to cast his vote to end the federal government shutdown and draw to a close the Democrats' "temper tantrum" about the budget. This September 2024 image is of Mann preparing for a candidate forum. (Photo by Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)

TOPEKA — The U.S. House delegation from Kansas split along partisan lines Wednesday on the appropriations legislation drawing to a close the longest federal government shutdown in the nation’s history.

Republican U.S. Reps. Derek Schmidt, Tracey Mann and Ron Estes voted with the 222-209 majority on the shutdown’s 43rd day to approve the measure. The lone opponent from Kansas was Democratic U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids. On Monday, the deal cleared the U.S. Senate on a 60-40 vote with backing from U.S. Sens. Roger Marshall and Jerry Moran, both Kansas Republicans.

The resolution signed by President Donald Trump funded the government until Jan. 30, 2026.

“This long, unnecessary, and harmful federal government shutdown is finally about to end,” said Schmidt, of the eastern Kansas 2nd District. “I am hopeful Congress will now use the next two months to proceed under the regular order of finalizing full-year funding for the remaining government agencies and programs. No more hostage-taking. No more demands for backroom deals. Just line-by-line scrutiny of the federal budget.”

Senate Democrats for about six weeks withheld support for the closure-ending package in an attempt to secure extension of Affordable Care Act tax credits due to expire Jan. 1. In the end, Democrats settled for a December vote on the issue in the Senate.

Davids, who serves the Kansas City metropolitan area, said she declined to endorse the deal because U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, refused to commit to a House vote on extending subsidies tied to ACA health care premiums.

“I’ve said for weeks that we’ve got to come together and find a bipartisan compromise to open the government again,” she said. “But this can’t be at the expense of threatening health care for the more than 160,000 Kansans who rely on ACA credits to afford care and the thousands more who will see skyrocketing health care premiums.”

Davids said ending the shutdown meant federal employees would be back at work and receiving paychecks, but the fight to bring down the cost of health care wasn’t over.

“Kansans are sick of the political gamesmanship in Washington while people in Kansas pay the price,” she said.

Mann, serving a district covering much of rural Kansas as well as Lawrence, said he “proudly voted to bring this shutdown to an end once and for all.”

“The hardworking men and women who are the backbone of our country should not have their lives upended in exchange for Democrats’ pandering to their leftist base,” Mann said. “For 43 days, Washington Democrats have kept the federal government closed as they threw a temper tantrum and demanded that Congress adopt radical policy proposals like taxpayer-funded health care for illegal immigrants.”

Mann repeated the claim also made by Trump that Democrats wanted to fund health care to people without the documentation to legally be in the United States. In fact, Democrats had sought repeal of a federal law denying Medicaid or Children’s Health Insurance Program coverage to people who were “lawfully present” in the United States. That would benefit lawful permanent residents, refugees, parolees and individuals granted asylum, but not anyone in the country illegally.

Estes, who represents a district centered on Wichita, voted for the funding bill. He blamed Senate Democrats for holding the government hostage and demanding the GOP “give in to their radical political agenda.”

“Congressional Republicans are ready to enact President Trump’s priorities and continue delivering wins for Kansans and the American people,” Estes said.

The House approved a budget resolution in September that could have prevented the shutdown, but the Senate failed more than a dozen times to pass it.

Moran said he was relieved the Senate came around to a bipartisan short-term government funding patch and a set of appropriations bills for defense and agriculture. He said work on the federal budget was far from complete, and the new deadline loomed.

“Congress must work diligently to pass the remaining appropriations bills before the end of January to prevent another useless and unnecessary shutdown,” he said. “I’m committed to working with my colleagues to address the concerns they have, and any issues brought forth by the shutdown.”

He said shutdowns were damaging to the economy and highlighted dysfunction in Washington, D.C. The chaos also demonstrated for U.S. adversaries “we can’t work together to meet even the most fundamental responsibilities of Congress,” he said.

Marshall said the nation ought to salute the handful of Senate Democrats who represented “true courage” for siding with GOP members. He continued to denounce Senate Democrats who voted to hold the government hostage for political leverage.

“Now that the political games are over, I look forward to getting back to work and continuing to deliver on the America First agenda,” Marshall said.