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Deal reached in Senate to end government shutdown

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Senate voted Monday afternoon to end the three-day federal government shutdown but the stoppage did have an impact on West Virginia.

The bipartisan vote was in favor of a Continuing Resolution that will continue funding for three weeks. The U.S. House was expected to approve the deal and President Donald Trump was expected to sign it into law.

State Adjutant General Jim Hoyer talked about the impact of the shutdown on the Guard Monday.

West Virginia Adjutant General Jim Hoyer sent approximately 1,400 National Guard members home at noon Monday because at that time the shutdown was still in effect. Hoyer was clearly aggravated with the situation.

“Surely we’re better than this as a country. They’ve got to quit blaming each other and whose fault it is and that—-and people in Washington just need to lead,” Hoyer said.

Guard members are funded in different ways. There were about 1,000 full-time members who stayed on the job Monday. After the Senate’s vote, the ones who were sent home will be back at work Tuesday, a Guard spokesperson said.

U.S. Senator Joe Manchin

U.S. Senator Joe Manchin said he worked with a bipartisan group of senators to help end the shutdown.

“I worked all weekend and brought together more than 20 Republicans and Democrats to help both sides come to an agreement to end this government shutdown. While others were focused on placing political blame, I was focused on solving the problem, and I’m glad to say we got it done,” Manchin said in a statement.

U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito

U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito said the Democratic leadership in the Senate lost with its attempt to link the immigration issue to the budget.

“I just think they used it as a straw, and it’s a weak one, to hold everything else hostage and quite frankly I think the American people can see through this,” Capito said Monday on MetroNews “Talkline.”

West Virginia Third District Congressman Alex Mooney said a budget needs to be passed not the stop gap continuing resolutions.

U.S. Rep. Alex Mooney, R-W.Va.

“That’s the way we are supposed to do it,” Mooney said on “Talkline” Monday.

The CR passed Monday includes six years of funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). West Virginia Third District Congressman Evan Jenkins said that’s why he voted for the resolution last week.

“We’ve got 48,000 children in West Virginia that are covered by CHIP—to provide much needed health insurance,” Jenkins said Monday on “Talkline.”

U.S. Rep. Evan Jenkins, R-W.Va.

It ends up the West Virginia National Guard went through a four-hour shutdown preparation time Monday morning only to learn the Senate had enough votes to continue funding. Hoyer said the Guard was ready to do what was necessary.

“The expectation of our folks in the West Virginia National Guard, whether they’ve been impacted by this or not, I don’t care what anybody else is doing we’re going to be leaders and we’re going to lead,” Hoyer said.

This story will be updated.