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Local Republicans approve House measure preventing government shutdown

National Public Radio

Republicans Chris Collins and Tom Reed are touting their votes to prevent a government shutdown by late Friday night.

The two congressmen Thursday evening voted in favor of the Republican-backed House legislation to maintain current federal operations through February 16.

Reed said the measure ensures "our brave men and women who serve in our military have the funding they need to perform their duties. We cannot ignore our commitments."

Collins also pointed to a subject of contention among Democrats: CHIP.

"Today, House Republicans voted to extend the Children’s Health Insurance Program for six years, yet again providing certainty to millions of low-income children."

However, Democrats also wanted to fix the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, set to expire in March, which protects the roughly 700,000 enrollees in the program who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children.

"I am confident that we will come to a solution on a long term funding bill while taking care of the DACA situation," Collins said, "but as negotiations continue, I hope that Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats stop playing politics with the health of our nation’s children and vote to keep the government up and running."

The legislation is expecting a tougher road to passage in the Senate.

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