After 24 years, Debbie Stabenow left the U.S. Senate when her fourth term ended in 2024. Now, she's spending time with family, keeping a hand in consulting ― and keeping one eye on the federal shutdown, which ended Nov. 9 after 40 days, the longest shutdown on record . At issue are Affordable Care Act extended subsidies, without which millions of Americans will lose health care. Late Sunday night, one independent and seven Democrats senators – Michigan’s sitting U.S. Sens. Gary Peters and Elissa Slotkin, both Democrats, did not break ranks ― joined Republicans, voting for a path to reopen the government without reaching an agreement on ACA subsidies.

In conversations before and after the vote, Stabenow talked to Free Press Editorial Page Editor Nancy Kaffer about the Affordable Care Act

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