After the U.S. Senate failed to reach the 60 votes required to pass a short-term spending bill to avoid a government shutdown, Senators Lisa Murkowski (R – Alaska) and Dan Sullivan (R – Alaska) – who both voted yes on the bill – put out statements reflecting their disappoint in the failed measure. 

The bill failed 55-45, meaning unless a last minute deal is made, the government will shutdown tonight at midnight.  

Sullivan, who called the shutdown the “Schumer Shutdown,” put out the following statement: 

Tonight, I voted with my Republican and Democrat colleagues for a short-term, nonpartisan continuing resolution (CR) to keep our government open, fund our essential services, support our military, and ensure federal workers are paid. Bipartisan members of the House and Senate are united. We want to pass a clean CR and then spend the next seven weeks negotiating on in good faith other items, like extending and reforming the Affordable Care Act enhanced premium tax credits, which I support.

Senator Schumer, on the other hand, decided to shut the government down to appease the far-left wing of his party, putting his personal politics over the interests of veterans, our military, and other important federal workers. This Schumer shutdown was 100 percent avoidable.

In her statement, Murkowski referenced her own plan that includes continuing healthcare subsidies, temporary funding for rural public broadcasting, and a “reversal of recent unconstitutional pocket rescissions.” 

This evening, the Senate voted on a continuing resolution to keep the federal government open through late November. I supported that legislation because it would have provided more time to work on appropriations bills, but its failure means that a harmful shutdown will begin at midnight tonight.

There is no such thing as a good government shutdown, and it is imperative that we come together to put a quick end to this one. To do that, I recently proposed a framework which includes three Senate-passed appropriations bills, a short-term fix to help millions of Americans avoid massive increases in their health insurance costs, temporary funding for rural public broadcasting stations, and a reversal of recent unconstitutional pocket rescissions.

I realize that the framework I put forward ten days ago reflects my priorities, and others might have different ideas on how to re-open the government. I am willing to talk with any of my colleagues, and welcome good faith negotiations to make this shutdown as short and painless as possible for the American people.

To Alaskans who may be affected by this shutdown, my office is ready to help. As information becomes available, my team and I will post updates about the shutdown to my website in real time, which can be accessed at https://www.murkowski.senate.gov/government-shutdown.

The last government shutdown, which lasted 35 days, was from December 22, 2018 to January 25, 2019.