All three of Fairfax County’s Congressional representatives say they will not support a legislative deal advanced late yesterday (Sunday) by the U.S. Senate to reopen the federal government.
Without a guarantee that health care subsidies will be extended, the latest effort by lawmakers to break the record-long stalemate over funding is a non-starter, Rep. James Walkinshaw, who’s in his first term representing Virginia’s 11th District, said in a statement.
“The Senate Republican plan fails to address the crushing cost of health care at a time when families are already struggling with higher prices for housing, groceries, and energy — costs driven by Trump’s failed policies,” Walkinshaw said, adding “I will continue fighting in the House for affordable health care and for the federal workers who keep our country running.”
Walkinshaw also highlighted growing affordability concerns nationwide, which he argues would only be made worse by skyrocketing health insurance premiums.
“Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans have made one thing abundantly clear during this Republican shutdown: they will go to any length to take health care away from hardworking Americans,” he said. “For 41 days, they’ve refused to work with Democrats to fix the health care affordability crisis they created — while tens of millions of Americans face skyrocketing costs.”
Walkinshaw’s full statement is below.
“Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans have made one thing abundantly clear during this Republican shutdown: they will go to any length to take health care away from hardworking Americans.
For 41 days, they’ve refused to work with Democrats to fix the health care affordability crisis they created — while tens of millions of Americans face skyrocketing costs. At the same time, they’ve continued their pattern of corruption and cruelty: illegally firing federal workers and taking food from hungry families.
I want this shutdown to end because the federal workers who have endured attack after attack from the Trump Administration deserve dignity — and their paychecks. I applaud Senator Kaine’s efforts to secure temporary protections against more illegal firings.
But the Senate Republican plan fails to address the crushing cost of health care at a time when families are already struggling with higher prices for housing, groceries, and energy — costs driven by Trump’s failed policies. It also does nothing to stop the Administration from continuing its illegal cuts to federal programs and jobs.
I will continue fighting in the House for affordable health care and for the federal workers who keep our country running, and will vote no on the Senate Republican proposal.”
Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, who represents Virginia’s 10th Congressional District, similarly expressed skepticism of the deal, arguing that its “promising language” to protect federal workers from future layoffs and to schedule a vote on health care tax credits are inadequate.
“Virginians, who have been most hurt by this shutdown, sent a clear message this past week that they want life to be more affordable and to stop the attacks on federal workers and contractors,” Subramanyam said in a statement, referring to the Nov. 4 elections that saw Democrats sweep Virginia’s statewide offices and expand their majority in the House of Delegates.
He noted that there’s no guarantee that the Senate will actually pass the health care tax credits or that the Republican-controlled House will hold a vote.
“We must have more than assurances on protecting healthcare and preventing firings when a cost of everything continues to rise,” he said. “Instead, we are no closer to reducing healthcare costs for 20 million Americans.”
My statement on the Senate proposal. pic.twitter.com/59Hv7p3rA4
— Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (VA-10) (@RepSuhas) November 10, 2025
Rep. Don Beyer, whose 8th District includes southeastern Fairfax County, announced in a statement this afternoon that he will also vote “no” on the deal to end the shutdown if it reaches the House in its current state.
“I have said from the beginning that my goal is to end the shutdown in a way that protects Americans from skyrocketing health care costs, and this bill fails that test,” Beyer said, adding that the package also “fails to address President Trump’s illegal infringement upon Congress’s constitutional authority over federal spending or rein in his administration’s lawlessness.”
I will be voting no on the proposed continuing resolution in the U.S. House.
Republican leaders have turned their backs on Americans facing rising health care costs and refuse to address the affordability crisis their own policies created.
My statement: pic.twitter.com/hbOo8XIIL6
— Rep. Don Beyer (@RepDonBeyer) November 10, 2025
Kaine and Warner split on deal
Seven Democratic senators — including Virginia’s Tim Kaine — and Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) joined all but one Republican last night in supporting a procedural vote to take up a package of appropriations bills funding federal agencies.
The package includes a stopgap measure that will generally maintain existing spending levels until Jan. 30 as well as several bills fully funding some operations, including military construction, veterans’ affairs and agricultural programs, through the remainder of this fiscal year, which goes through September 2026, the Associated Press reported.
The deal also provides funding to reimburse states that used their own money to keep the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, and the Women, Infants and Children program, or WIC, running during the shutdown.
That includes Virginia, which launched a program last week to fund SNAP allotments on a weekly basis. However, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced yesterday that the Commonwealth will halt its Virginia Emergency Nutrition Assistance program in response to a federal directive telling states to stop issuing food benefits.
Kaine, in a statement released shortly before the vote, said his support came after receiving a guarantee that a vote will be held in December to extend Affordable Care Act (ACA) enhanced premium tax credits. He also noted that the package includes measures to roll back federal worker layoffs implemented during the shutdown, ensure they receive back pay and prevent future layoffs.
My statement on the funding deal to reopen government, protect federal employees, and vote to protect health care pic.twitter.com/1ITfj3mLoq
— Senator Tim Kaine (@SenTimKaine) November 10, 2025
In supporting a vote, Kaine broke from fellow Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, who stated that he “cannot support a deal that still leaves millions of Americans wondering how they are going to pay for their health care or whether they will be able to afford to get sick.”
“We owe the American people more than a short-term fix that leaves working families staring down a health care crisis, and simply kicking the can down the road is not good enough,” Warner said in a statement last night.
The enhanced premium tax credits, more commonly referred to as federal health insurance subsidies, were implemented in 2021 to assist individuals who made too much money to qualify for Medicaid, but still couldn’t afford the premiums for then-current health insurance plans on the ACA marketplace.
Without action, the Covid-era subsidies will expire at the end of the year, triggering higher premiums for more than 19,000 Fairfax County residents, according to Walkinshaw’s office.
“When you layer on the cost from the tariffs, when you layer on increasing utility costs — we know that’s an issue here in Virginia — folks just can’t afford an increase in healthcare premiums of $1,200 or more each year,” Walkinshaw told FFXnow last month.
What happens next
Political and procedural hurdles remain as Congress, which is controlled by Republicans, slogs through more voting and the shutdown entered its 41st day Monday.
While the Senate could pass the legislative package today, sending it to the Republican-controlled House, voting could alternatively be dragged out all week if the dissenters put up a prolonged fight.
One Republican, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, voted against advancing the package Sunday, and he is said to have concerns over a hemp industry provision. And three ultra-conservative GOP senators held up voting for more than two hours as they demanded consideration of their ideas. It is unclear if any of them plans to stage further protests.
Democrats, who have fought for the past month in their hopes of preserving the health care subsidies, also could delay final passage, and their next steps are uncertain.
And the package faces fresh scrutiny once it goes to the House, where Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana holds a slim GOP majority and would likely need almost all Republicans to support the bill in the face of objections from Democrats who are holding out for the health care funds.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said the party will fight the bill, forcing the Republicans in the House to pass it largely on their own.
“We will not support spending legislation advanced by Senate Republicans that fails to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits” Jeffries said. “Donald Trump and the Republican Party own the toxic mess they have created.”
