Seven of the 11 members of Arizona's congressional delegation voted to end the federal government shutdown Tuesday night, including Republican Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake.
McCain and Jeff Flake told NPR that shutting down the government was the wrong tactic for the GOP.
McCain, who was in the Senate during the last shutdown in 1995, recalled that and how it hurt Republicans and the nation. Yet, it occurred again, he said.
"Let's hope we've learned the lesson," McCain said.
Flake, in the first year of his first term in the Senate, warned before and during the shutdown that it was a mistake.
After Tuesday evening's vote in both chambers of Congress to reopen the government, he said Republicans should now know that using the federal budget to try changing a policy they don't like - the Affordable Care Act in this instance - is inappropriate.
Voting for the legislation in the House were Democrats Ron Barber, Raúl Grijalva, Ann Kirkpatrick, Ed Pastor and Kyrsten Sinema. Voting against it were Republicans Trent Franks, Paul Gosar, Matt Salmon and David Schweikert.
By submitting your comments, you hereby give AZPM the right to post your comments and potentially use them in any other form of media operated by this institution.