After a month and a half of the longest federal government shutdown in history, Congress is set to take a vote Wednesday night to reopen the government.
West-central Missouri U.S. Congressman Mark Alford told Missourinet Democrats are to blame for the stalemate, but he believes the turning point that brought both sides back to the table was the crisis involving air traffic controllers.
“Some were not showing up to work either out of protest or out of necessity because they were having to find other jobs to pay the bills, and that started to impact everyday normal Americans,” said Alford.
The deal keeps the government funded through January 30th but leaves out Affordable Care Act subsidies.
Alford said those subsidies go to insurance companies—and he believes that it has to stop.
“I agree with President Trump in some regard; we need to look into this more,” said Alford. “Direct payments to people that they can negotiate their own health care services, pay out of pocket with their health savings accounts where they can negotiate their own price for services or products in the healthcare sector.”
Kansas City Democratic Congressman Emanuel Cleaver says the Affordable Care Act subsidies should be restored to keep health care affordable for thousands of Missourians.
A new deal funds the SNAP food assistance program through September 2026, but concerns remain over added restrictions. Alford said Republicans included work requirements in the Big Beautiful Bill—something he notes about 70% of Americans support.
“If you’re between the ages of 19 and 65 and you have no dependents and you’re physically and mentally able bodied to work, you should either be working, doing community service, going through job training, minimum of 20 hours a week,” said Alford. “That’s all we were saying in order to qualify for food stamps.”
Democrats argue the new work requirements will make it harder for vulnerable families to access food assistance, warning the changes could increase hunger rather than reduce it.
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