Democratic U.S. Sen. Joe Donnelly continued his bipartisan high-wire act Monday as he joined the Republican-controlled Congress in voting to bring a swift, although temporary, end to the federal government shutdown.
Donnelly, up for re-election in November, was one of a handful of Democrats from red states that overwhelmingly voted for Donald Trump who crossed party lines with their votes early Saturday and again Monday to end the shutdown. The government’s nonessential services had shut down over the weekend when Democrats refused to vote for the budget unless it included deportation protections for the children of illegal immigrants.
Donnelly said he voted to end the shutdown because Republican Senate leaders promised further debate on the fate of the illegal immigrants’ children, along with the U.S.-Mexican border wall that Trump campaigned on, after Feb. 8.
“I thought we could continue to work on these issues while keeping the government open,” Donnelly said. “Once the government shut down, I began working immediately with my friend Susan Collins and other senators to try to work to get it reopened.”
Collins is a senator from Maine who hosted the bipartisan shutdown talks in her office on Capitol Hill.
Donnelly said he doesn’t think he’s in a difficult position, torn between his party and his state’s largely Republican constituency.
“I don’t come here as a Democrat or a Republican, but as a spokesman for the people of Indiana,” Donnelly said late Monday after voting to temporarily fund the government through Feb. 8. The Senate vote was 81-18, with all 18 “no” votes coming from Democrats.