Sen. Doug Jones votes for Republican-backed budget deal

[yallerdawg]

This is exactly what he promised to do while campaigning!

Source: AL.com, by Leada Gore

Sen. Doug Jones, D-AL, voted for a spending deal to avert a government shutdown, the fifth Democratic Senator to support the Republican-backed measure.

Jones, who took office last month, told NBC News he voted for the measure because of its funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program. CHIP serves about 84,000 low-income children in Alabama.

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Jones joins Democrats Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, and Joe Donnelly of Indiana in supporting the measure. Other Democrats are opposing the measure saying it does not provide protection for Dreamers, people who were brought into the U.S. illegally as children.

The total on the vote was 50-49, but 60 votes were needed to advance the bill. Five Republicans voted against the bill; Richard Shelby, Alabama's Senior Senator, voted yes.

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Read it all at: http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2018/01/sen_doug_jones_will_vote_for_r.html#incart_river_home

[bearsfootball516]

1. I'm fine with it.

Vulnerable Democrats have to take care of themselves, and this was the perfect chance to do that without risking actual passage of the bill.

[yallerdawg]

2. Alabama's "ALL Kids," our CHIP program.

The last approved Continuing Resolution December 21 last year:

The Alabama Department of Public Health has decided not to freeze enrollment for the Children's Health Insurance Program on Jan. 1 or terminate coverage Feb. 1 because Congress approved a temporary funding measure.

ALL Kids has operated since 1998 and has helped reduce the number of uninsured children in Alabama from 20 percent to 2.4 percent.

Nationally, CHIP covers about 9 million children. Other states, like Alabama, have made plans to shut down their programs if Congress does not provide funds.

http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2017/12/alabama_childrens_health_insur.html