On September 30, 2025, the day before the government shut down, Nebraska Senator Pete Ricketts voted against S. 2882, a Democratic stopgap that would have kept agencies open and made the enhanced health insurance tax credits permanent, and he voted against it six more times from September 19 to October 9. The 43-day shutdown ended in November 2025 without an extension, and on December 11, 2025 Ricketts voted against advancing a three-year extension. The credits expired on December 31, 2025, and Nebraska's marketplace enrollment fell 23 percent in the first year without them, the most lasting result of the fight.
On January 30, 2026, Ricketts voted against taking back unspent ICE money from the 2025 tax-and-spending law, and when Homeland Security funding lapsed two weeks later ICE kept running on that money while airport security officers worked without pay. He also voted to confirm the budget director, agriculture secretary and transportation secretary whose agencies pushed layoffs, let November food aid run late and cut flights at 40 airports during the 2025 shutdown. Those effects ended when funding resumed, but CBO estimated that billions of dollars in lost economic output will never be recovered.
Pete Ricketts's Votes and Confirmations in the Shutdown Fights
- Ricketts Voted Seven Times Against the Stopgap That Would Have Made the Health Insurance Credits Permanent. On September 30, 2025, Pete Ricketts voted no on S. 2882, a stopgap that would have funded the government and included a PERMANENT EXTENSION OF ENHANCED TAX CREDIT for marketplace insurance. He also voted against it on September 19, October 1, October 3, October 6, October 8 and October 9, 2025, and each time it fell short of the 60 votes it needed. The credits expired on December 31, 2025, and in 2026 KFF found that marketplace enrollees' premium payments increased by an average of 58% from $113 to $178 per month. Marketplace enrollment fell in every state except for New Mexico in the first year without the enhanced credits.
- Ricketts Voted Against the Health Credit Extension That Was Promised in the Deal Ending the Shutdown. On December 11, 2025, a month after the shutdown ended, Ricketts voted no on cloture on S. 3385, which would have extended the enhanced premium tax credits through tax years beginning before January 1, 2029. It got 51 votes, short of the 60 needed. The credits expired three weeks later. After they lapsed, average marketplace deductibles rose to a record high of $3,786 in 2026, as many enrollees moved to cheaper plans, KFF found.
- Ricketts Voted to Keep ICE's Tax-Law Money Two Weeks Before the 2026 Homeland Security Lapse. On January 30, 2026, Ricketts voted no on an amendment that would have taken back unspent ICE money from the 2025 tax-and-spending law and reversed some of its Medicaid changes. It needed 60 votes and failed 49 to 51. When Homeland Security funding lapsed on February 14, 2026, most ICE and Border Patrol operations continued largely unimpaired due to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, NPR reported, while airport screeners worked without pay. More than 400 Transportation Security Administration workers have quit since a partial government shutdown began, NBC reported in March, and the department stayed unfunded for 75 days, until April 30.
- Ricketts Voted to Confirm the Officials Who Ran the 2025 Shutdown's Layoffs, Food Aid Cutoff and Flight Cuts. Pete Ricketts voted to confirm Russell Vought as budget director on February 6, 2025, Brooke Rollins as agriculture secretary on February 13, 2025 and Sean Duffy as transportation secretary on January 28, 2025. During the shutdown, Vought's office pushed the roughly 4,000 mass layoffs that a judge blocked and that the reopening law later said shall have no force or effect. Under Rollins, NPR reported, 42 million Americans who participate with SNAP didn't receive the food aid they rely on on time in November 2025, and her department told states they must immediately undo any steps taken to issue full SNAP benefits after courts ordered payment. Duffy's FAA ordered flight cuts at 40 airports, and the Michigan Advance reported that A 10% reduction at the listed airports would mean 3,300 canceled flights per day. These effects were transient: benefits, jobs and flights returned after the government reopened on November 12, 2025.
Pete Ricketts's Shutdown Votes and What the Shutdowns Cost Nebraska
- Health coverage. Nebraska's marketplace enrollment fell from 130,407 to 100,622, down 23 percent, from 2025 to 2026, the first year without the enhanced credits that Ricketts voted against extending (KFF data). This loss is lasting: the credits were not renewed.
- Food aid. About 149,429 Nebraskans received SNAP in July 2025, according to USDA data, and their November 2025 benefits were held up in the shutdown along with those of the 42 million Americans who did not get food aid on time. The delay was transient: benefits were paid after the courts and the reopening law acted.
- Lost output. CBO estimated that between $7 billion and $14 billion (in 2025 dollars) will not be recovered from the 2025 shutdown, a loss spread across Nebraska and every other state.
Frequently Asked Questions About Pete Ricketts on Government shutdowns
What is Pete Ricketts's record on government shutdowns under Trump?
Pete Ricketts voted seven times in September and October 2025 against a stopgap that would have kept the government open and made the enhanced health insurance credits permanent, and in December 2025 against advancing a three-year extension. In January 2026 he voted to keep ICE's money from the 2025 tax-and-spending law, and ICE kept operating through the 75-day Homeland Security lapse that followed. The shutdowns ended, but the credits expired, and Nebraska's marketplace enrollment fell by 23 percent in 2026.
How did Pete Ricketts vote on the health care credits during the 2025 shutdown?
Pete Ricketts voted against S. 2882, the Democratic stopgap with a permanent extension of the enhanced premium tax credits, on September 30, 2025 and six other days. In a KFF poll taken just before the shutdown, three-quarters (78%) of adults say Congress should extend the enhanced tax credits.
Who kept working during the 2026 Homeland Security shutdown, and how did Pete Ricketts vote?
ICE kept working on money from the 2025 tax-and-spending law, which Pete Ricketts voted on January 30, 2026 not to take back. Airport screeners worked without pay, and more than 400 TSA workers quit before the department reopened on April 30, 2026 after 75 days without funding.
Last updated: 2026-10-25