Shaheen says ‘nothing official is happening’ to end shutdown as workforce, SNAP concerns mount

U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen speaks at a roundtable discussion in Concord on Oct. 17, 2025. In early October, the federal government shut down after senators were unable to pass a spending plan. (Photo by William Skipworth/New Hampshire Bulletin)

U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen said official negotiations with Republicans to end the federal government shutdown aren’t occurring in Washington right now, only backdoor communications.

“There are a lot of people on both sides of the aisle who are talking about how can we end this and get government operating again and how do we address the health care issue,” she said in an interview with the Bulletin after a roundtable event in Concord. “But nothing official is happening, and again, that’s the problem. We need leadership on both sides of the aisle in both houses and the president to come to the table and help do official negotiations so we can end this.”

The federal government ceased nonessential operations earlier this month after the Senate failed to pass a spending plan. Senate Republicans proposed keeping funding largely at current levels, but Democrats refused to vote for any package that didn’t extend a set of soon-to-expire tax credits used by Americans to purchase health coverage on the Affordable Care Act Marketplace. The Democrats countered with a spending plan that spent roughly $1 trillion more to extend the subsidies and reverse many of the health spending cuts made by Republicans in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act in July. The sides failed to reach an agreement by Oct. 1, prompting the government shutdown. Both parties have blamed one another for the shutdown.

“The impasse is that, on the one hand, we’re hearing from the majority (Republicans) in both houses and the president saying, ‘We’re not going to talk about the Affordable Care Act premium tax credits as long as the government is shut down,’” Shaheen, a Democrat, said. “And on the other side, we’re saying, ‘Look, we think this needs to be done. There’s urgency. We need to get it done, so let’s do it as part of opening the government.’”

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If the shutdown doesn’t end by Oct. 31, the federal government won’t provide New Hampshire with the funding to operate the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, which provides low-income families with help purchasing food. Shaheen wouldn’t say whether she’d vote to end the shutdown if Republicans haven’t agreed to extend the tax credits by then. She pointed the finger at Republicans.

“I think you need to ask Republicans why they continue to shut down the government,” Shaheen said. “Why they’re not willing to address the people who are going to lose their health insurance because of losing their premium tax credits. There’s an easy fix here, and people ought to be willing to come to the table and do both.”

As part of that government shutdown, many federal workers have been furloughed or are being asked to work without pay. Asked how she squares the pain of those federal workers with the pain she’s trying to prevent among Americans who will lose their tax credits, Shaheen said “I think we can do both (end the shutdown and renew the tax credits).”

“Listen, we’re spending $20 billion to bail out Argentina,” she said, referring to the Trump administration’s decision to send aid to the South American country amid increasing inflation under libertarian President Javier Milei. “This administration is willing to bail out Argentina, but they’re going to let 20 million people’s premiums rise so that they can’t afford their health insurance.”

Shaheen emphasized her desire to renew the tax credits. In New Hampshire, just under 50,000 people used the tax credit in 2025, according to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services data. If the credits expire, premiums are set to spike. A single person in their mid-40s earning $31,300 in New Hampshire annually could see their total annual premiums increase $1,344, according to analysis from New Futures, which hosted the roundtable Friday, and Families USA; additionally, a couple in their 60s earning $90,000 annually could see their premiums increase $14,712.