Washington's congressional Democrats are mostly slamming the pending deal to reopen the federal government, calling it a capitulation by fellow Democrats that fails to guarantee any substantive concessions from Republicans.
But U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez — one of the nation's most politically vulnerable Democrats heading into next year's midterms — remained a question mark ahead of the looming vote.
The Senate approved the deal Monday, with eight Democrats siding with Republicans to reopen the government, generating a deluge of anger from Democratic activists who called the crossover votes a betrayal.
President Donald Trump signaled support for the deal, saying we’re going to be opening up our country very quickly."
The measure that passed the Senate comes without any assurance of extending expiring health-insurance tax credits — the chief concession that Democratic leaders had cited as a reason for backing the shutdown.
Washington's U.S. Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell call it a mistake and voted against the deal, with both Democrats saying the party should have stood its ground longer.
Murray said the deal was unacceptable in an interview with The Seattle Times, and that it did nothing to address the looming health care affordability crisis.
"Tens of thousands of people in our state and millions in the country are going to be facing a health care premium rise that means they will not be able to provide health care to their families," Murray said.
The impasse put Murray and fellow Democrats in the unusual position of shutting down the federal government by refusing to provide majority Republicans enough votes to meet a 60-vote threshold needed for a stopgap funding measure.
"We never wanted a shutdown. We didn't start out with a strategy like that," said Murray, the leading Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Murray argued Democrats had no choice but to draw a hard line after Republicans refused to negotiate in good faith. Meanwhile, Trump was "running off to Mar-a-Lago and painting new ballrooms and pretending like Congress doesn't exist."
She blamed Republicans for the record-setting government closure, which has furloughed federal workers and led the Trump administration to threaten cutoff of SNAP benefits and forced flight cancellations at airports across the country.
Cantwell, in a Senate floor speech, said she's heard from Washington residents facing huge spikes in the costs of insurance plans offered under the Affordable Care Act.
“This bill doesn’t address the core issue that millions of Americans will no longer be able to afford ACA insurance coverage next year,” Cantwell said in a statement.
An estimated 80,000 people in the state are expected to drop coverage if the expiring tax credits are not extended, according to the state insurance commissioner's office.
Washington Republicans have blasted Democrats for the shutdown tactic, which they said accomplished nothing.
Rep. Michael Baumgartner, R-Spokane, had repeatedly predicted the Democrats' strategy had no shot of success. As the reopening deal emerged he took a victory lap with an X post, saying "the decision to shutdown the government was a monumental waste of time that hurt a lot of people. I’m glad that it will soon be over."
Ahead of a House vote expected this week, most of Washington's Democratic House members said they'll vote against the deal.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Seattle, said in an interview she's "frustrated" by Democrats who helped advance the funding bill without securing firm commitments on health care or other priorities. Republicans agreed to schedule a vote on extending the health care subsidies by mid-December, but did not commit to passing anything.
Jayapal said it's foolish to accept such loose pledges against a backdrop of "incredibly illegal" actions by the Trump administration, including firing of federal workers and sending "masked men" into cities to "kidnap" immigrants.
"I think that we as Democrats have to recognize that this is not the moment for pinkie promises and trust," she said.
Jayapal said Trump tried to intimidate Democrats into ending the shutdown with the flight cancellations and efforts to cut off SNAP benefits. "If we want to be able to stand up to the bully in the schoolyard, we have to show we can be just as tough," she said.
She pointed a finger at Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, accusing him of secretly blessing the compromise even as he publicly voted against it. "This was clearly something that he endorsed," she said.
Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Medina, said in a social media post she'll also vote against the funding deal because it "fails to address the fundamental needs of the American people."
DelBene, as chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, will lead the party's efforts to regain a majority in the House in the 2026 midterms.
While Democrats need to flip Republican seats in swing districts, they'll also be playing defense in places like Southwest Washington, where Gluesenkamp Perez is running for a third term in a district that leans Republican.
The furor over the funding compromise could complicate that effort if bad feelings linger in the Democratic Party's base, said Patrick Schoettmer, a political science professor at Seattle University.
"I think a lot of Democrats are really worried about how capitulating on this shutdown without getting the core issue they wanted is going to hurt and divide the party," he said. "They need to get the squad together for the midterms."
As of Tuesday evening, Gluesenkamp Perez had not said which way she'll vote, but she has staked out a reputation as willing to buck her party and side with Republicans on some high-profile votes.
She pilloried what she called a "reckless shutdown" from the start, saying in September she supported a Republican-led stopgap budget measure that would have kept the government running, though she missed the actual vote.
"I’d rather have an old jalopy that runs than a shiny new car that doesn’t. A government that works for people — even if it’s not perfect — is better than one that grinds to a halt while politicians fight over who gets to drive," Gluesenkamp Perez wrote in a campaign email last week.
Gluesenkamp Perez is already facing a tough reelection challenge next year from Centralia Republican John Braun, the state Senate's Republican leader.
Some progressive Democrats are already pushing for a primary challenge to Gluesenkamp Perez — efforts that could get inflamed further if she again breaks with Democrats on the funding deal.
Some Democratic activists are already backing an alternative candidate, Brent Hennrich, who has repeatedly criticized Gluesenkamp Perez for her voting record.
"We're appalled by her. We support her being primaried," said Alan Unell, a Vancouver-area resident active with the progressive Indivisible activist organization, though he said he was not speaking on behalf of the group.
Unell and his wife, Vokouhi Hovagimian, said Tuesday they believe Democrats were winning the shutdown and had Republicans in their jaws like a predator grasping a wiggling prey.
"They should bite down. That's how it works, Hovagimian said.
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