Massachusetts congressional lawmakers condemned their Republican colleagues this week for passing a short-term government spending bill, which they said does not adequately address issues facing most Americans.
Although the narrowly passed year-end spending package allowed Congress to avoid a government shutdown, Massachusetts Democrats raised concerns about its lack of funding for low-income children's health care, opioid epidemic response efforts and disaster recovery.
They further spoke out against its failure to include language addressing so-called "dreamers," or those who were brought to the country illegally as children and benefitted under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program, known as DACA.
U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Massachusetts, accused Republicans of focusing more on their contentious tax overhaul plan -- which cleared Congress Wednesday -- than on ensuring continued funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program, protecting dreamers and providing funding to address the opioid crisis in the government spending bill.
"This year-end spending package is disgraceful, and is entirely insufficient to address the worries of millions of American families hoping for security and dignity this holiday season," he said in a statement.
Markey pledged to "fight for full funding and long-term stability for children's health insurance and community health centers, without raiding funds of other valuable health program, and to ensure that we give full protection to the young people who've known no other home than the United States."
"We simply cannot wait to do the right thing," he said.
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, meanwhile, argued that Congress should not leave Washington to celebrate the holidays while "800,000 dreamers fear being ripped apart from their families and deported to a country they barely know."
"We must keep our promise," she said.
Congresswoman Katherine Clark, D-Melrose, also criticized Republicans for failing to act on CHIP funding, DACA protections, disaster relief spending and opioid crisis funding despite their majorities in the U.S. House and Senate.
"Republicans passed their massive tax gift for billionaires and are now rushing to leave town before adequately addressing the problems affecting the other 99 percent of Americans," she said in a statement. "Despite having total control in Washington, Republicans could not even manage to deliver on basic duties ... Families are counting on Congress to provide help and certainty, but Republicans are kicking the can down the road to face these decisions when it is convenient for them."
U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Worcester, echoed Clark's criticism and asked "how many weeks did (Republicans) kick the can down the road until we have another shutdown crisis?"
Congressman Stephen Lynch, D-South Boston, voiced concerns about the spending bill's temporary nature and failure to address funding for "overdue priorities" like veterans and CHIP.
"This is no way to run a government," he tweeted.
U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Salem, meanwhile, contended that he voted against the stopgap measure because Republicans said to fund CHIP and community health centers, Congress had to cut preventative health care funding.
"We can't play politics with American lives," he said.
Although Democrats had intitally pushed to add their priorities to the temporary spending bill, they largely worked to keep it free of added measures after being rebuffed on immigration protections, according to the Associated Press.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, told the news outlet that party leaders wanted to ensure they had equal bargaining power heading into the next round of debate.
"We're not going to allow things like disaster relief to go forward without discussing some of the other issues we care about," he reportedly said.
The Trump administration announced its plans to end DACA in September, but noted it would first give Congress six months -- until March 5, 2018 -- to come up with a possible replacement for the controversial immigration policy.
Federal CHIP funding, meanwhile, ended on Sept. 30.
States can use the remaining federal funds from their Fiscal Year 2017 CHIP allotment and redistribution funding from previous years, but without an funding extension, states could run out of money and face budget shortfalls.
More than a dozen states, including Massachusetts, are expected to have exhausted federal funds for the program, which covers nearly 9 million children across the United States, by the end of January, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.