Three members of the U.S. Senate — Oregon’s Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, and Washington’s Maria Cantwell — voted against a stop-gap funding deal on Sunday that would end the 40-day federal government shutdown without automatic extension of health-insurance premium subsidies.

The measure advanced by a 60-40 margin, with eight Democrats joining all Senate Republicans, but the trio held firm in opposition.

Wyden wrote on social media that his “red line has always been lowering health costs for Americans,” and that he was a “no” because the deal did not meet that bar.

Cantwell warned that in portions of her state average premiums could more than double next year if the enhanced tax credits under the Affordable Care Act expire without legislative action.

Wyden and Merkley, speaking at public events in Oregon, emphasised that while reopening the government is vital, doing so without securing policy protections for millions of Americans facing steep insurance-cost increases would constitute a failure of responsibility.

Merkley described the bill as a “brutal blow” to those who have advocated for affordable coverage.

The legislation under consideration would have extended government operations into late January and triggered a later vote on the subsidies, but without guaranteeing their continuation.

Many Senate Democrats rejected that sequencing as inadequate, arguing that millions stand to lose affordability protections if Congress does not act before year-end.

With the shutdown stalemate now moving to a next phase — funding the government versus resolving health-care policy — the dissent of the members from Oregon and Washington underlines the pressure on Democrats to either insist on policy wins before passing funding or step aside and reopen government operations without them.