Sen. Markey: Shutdown will end when voters demand health care funding
SPRINGFIELD — U.S. Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., said Friday the federal government shutdown will end when Republican lawmakers are driven to the negotiation table by their constituents who oppose the planned cuts to health care subsidies.
"The only way that they're going to come back to the table is when people on Main Street, which is turning into Pain Street for those families, say, 'do not cut the health care of my families,'" the lawmaker told reporters in Springfield Friday. "That's when we will have a deal, when the Republicans are hearing the outrage from their voters across our country, as they are back home in their districts."
Senators left Washington Thursday evening after they passed the National Defense Authorization Act, according to The Hill. But legislation to reopen the government will have to wait. Senators are expected to return to Capitol Hill Tuesday.
For his part, Markey visited Springfield Friday morning to address labor leaders at the Massachusetts AFL-CIO Biennial Constitutional Convention, which was held in the ballrooms at MGM casino.
Speaking with reporters, Markey said he told labor leaders "that Donald Trump has declared war on Massachusetts" and its environmental protections, and educational and health care systems. When it comes to the Trump administration's plans to cut Medicaid, Medicare, the Affordable Care Act and medical research, "we have to fight because health is the first wealth," Markey said.
Markey said leaders of local health care organizations have told him that health care cuts will impact preventative health efforts, behavioral health programs and emergency rooms.
"After talking to the Western Massachusetts medical institution leaders," Markey said, "they have told me that they cannot afford to have Medicaid taken away from them or the Medicare funding because it will affect every single citizen in Western Massachusetts and their health care."
Federal workers will get back pay following the shutdown, Markey said.
On Oct. 1, Markey co-sponsored a bill with 31 senators that would direct the government to give back pay to federal contractors.
Asked if federal contractors received back pay in pervious shutdowns, Markey said, "We have to set the precedent right now. We have to ensure that federal contractors get the funding, even retroactively, but so that their families are taken care of as well."
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