Scott Colom, a Democrat running against incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, said he would largely side with Democratic leaders in the current partisan dispute that has the federal government shut down and has pitted Senate Democrats against President Donald Trump. 

While campaigning in Jackson on Oct. 11 at Jackson State University’s homecoming game, Colom told Mississippi Today that if he were a U.S. senator from Mississippi, he would pressure congressional leaders to reach a deal on health insurance costs alongside an agreement to fund the government. 

At the heart of the government shutdown fight is a dispute over extending expiring subsidies that help people buy health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. Colom said this is “common sense policy” for Mississippi. 

Hyde-Smith, Mississippi’s former agriculture commissioner and a former state senator, has voted with the Republican leadership in favor of funding the government, but punts the issues of the health insurance subsidies.  

She wrote on social media that Democratic senators were putting on a “political show” by not agreeing to pass a bill to fund the government without promised protections for the subsidies. 

If the subsidies are not extended before the end of the year, the cost of insurance will go up on average $480 annually for an estimated 285,000 Mississippians on the federal health exchange, according to KFF, a national nonprofit health care research organization. The premiums would increase significantly for some Mississippians.

Participation in the marketplace by Mississippians has increased 242% in recent years since the enhanced federal assistance program was enacted, according to KFF, and Mississippi has one of the highest percentages of residents who don’t have health insurance. 

Some Republicans argue that Congress should debate the subsidies once the government is funded, but most Democratic senators have said they should act urgently to extend them because they will expire in the coming months. 

Colom, like most of the current Democratic senators, said the deal on funding the government should happen concurrently with an agreement over the subsidies because less affluent Mississippians would suffer without the extra government assistance.

“It has to be at the same time,” Colom said. “We have to do it at the same time.” 

Colom, the current district attorney in the Golden Triangle area, also criticized Hyde-Smith for not using her close relationship with Trump to negotiate a deal on the subsidies or the shutdown. 

“Democrats have repeatedly refused a clean, bipartisan bill to reopen the government,” Hyde-Smith said. “Everyday Americans are beginning to feel the pain, and it will only get worse as this unnecessary Democratic shutdown continues. This did not have to happen.” 

The U.S. government shut down on Oct. 1, and federal lawmakers have been unable to reach an agreement for three weeks now on how to fund and reopen it. 

Many federal agencies are operating at reduced capacity because of the shutdown, but core programs such as the military, Social Security and Medicaid have continued.