Former Gov. Roy Cooper said he doesn’t support legislation that passed the U.S. Senate on Monday night to reopen the government, siding with a majority of Senate Democrats that opposed any bipartisan deal that did not address rising health care costs.
That legislation now heads to the U.S. House, where a vote expected Wednesday will likely have narrow margins. Two of North Carolina’s four House Democrats have already indicated they will vote against it.
A standoff that spanned 41 days ended Monday when a group of eight senators, including seven Democrats, broke ranks to pass a Republican-led spending package. Cooper, the presumptive Democratic nominee for the open Senate seat in North Carolina, criticized the decision in a statement Monday.
“Working families are struggling and any deal that lets health care costs continue to skyrocket is unacceptable,” Cooper said. “It’s absurd this shutdown ever happened and that Republicans used hungry children as political pawns. Washington needs to do its job and come together on a bill that tackles costs and protects health care for North Carolinians.”
Democrats in Washington had pushed for any bill ending the shutdown to also include an extension of tax credits that reduce premium costs for those who pay for health care through the Affordable Care Act marketplace. Those tax credits expire at the end of the year; if they do, premiums will spike for millions of enrollees.
Senate Republicans have agreed to hold a vote on the issue separately next month, but passage is not guaranteed.
Democratic North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein, asked about the shutdown agreement during a news conference Tuesday, called Congress’ decision “inexcusable” as he compared it to North Carolina lawmakers’ failure to reach an agreement on funding Medicaid.
“Folks deserve access to health care,” Stein said. “That’s why the active work by Congress and the administration to deprive people of subsidies for the Affordable Care Act insurance plans … or the willingness of the General Assembly to refuse to fully fund Medicaid, putting at risk the entire system, is inexcusable.”
“We’ve got to be focusing on what matters to people’s lives,” Stein said. “That’s what government needs to do in Washington, that’s what government needs to do here in Raleigh.”
U.S. House to vote on shutdown agreement. Will NC Democrats oppose it?
It remains to be seen whether any House Democrats will join their Senate colleagues in support of the bill.
The offices of two of North Carolina’s four House Democrats — U.S. Reps. Alma Adams and Valerie Foushee — did not immediately respond to requests for comments Tuesday on how they planned to vote. Rep. Deborah Ross’ office referred NC Newsline to her comments on social media.
And U.S. Rep. Don Davis, viewed as one of the most moderate Democrats in the House, said in a statement he was “reviewing” the Senate agreement, but did not say which way he would vote on it.
“I am focused on ending the government shutdown responsibly and addressing the high cost of living families are facing,” Davis said. “The shutdown has made life harder for many families in eastern North Carolina and rural America, where resources are already limited.”
Ross and Foushee, meanwhile, have both signaled that they would oppose the measure as currently written.
Ross wrote on social media that the Senate agreement “is a bad deal for North Carolina.”
“It is a betrayal of hundreds of thousands of NC families on the verge of losing their health care,” she added.
And Foushee noted that House Speaker Mike Johnson had not yet pledged a vote on ACA subsidies like the Senate.
“I’m ready to find a solution to address the health care crisis and open the government — but this deal doesn’t do that,” Foushee wrote on social media.
Shutdown agreement creates political crossroads for Democrats
The shutdown legislation puts vulnerable Democrats in a precarious political position.
If they support the deal, they can tout having reopened the government after the longest shutdown in history — but leave themselves open to criticism from voters who see health care costs as a top issue.
Voting against the agreement, meanwhile, keeps them among a majority of elected Democrats. But it leaves them open to attacks from Republicans who, despite the GOP’s trifecta control of Congress and the White House, are likely to accuse them of trying to prolong a shutdown that temporarily cut off food benefits for low-income families and halted pay for federal workers and North Carolina’s large military communities.
That calculus is more difficult for a Democrat like Davis, who could already face a severe uphill battle for re-election in a redrawn district. And while Cooper has no primary opponents ahead of his 2026 campaign against Michael Whatley, he will face scrutiny in the general election for his stance on the shutdown as he attempts to win over moderate and conservative voters.
The Senate GOP’s campaign operation has already taken aim on the issue, tying Cooper to progressive Democrats in a statement.
“Roy Cooper stayed silent on the shutdown for over 40 days, then when he finally took a position, he came out in lockstep with Bernie Sanders and AOC,” said Nick Puglia, regional press secretary for the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
Whatley’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
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