PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – Rhode Island’s proposed state budget is already in somewhat better shape than when it was introduced last Thursday.

As part of a deal to end a 69-hour government shutdown, Congress voted Monday to reauthorize the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for six years. Democratic Gov. Gina Raimondo’s budget plan assumed $35.5 million in funding would come to the state in the current and next fiscal years based on the expectation CHIP would be reauthorized.

Brenna McCabe, a spokeswoman for the R.I. Department of Administration, said the vote by Congress ensures the funding assumed in the budget proposal will indeed be there if the budget plan becomes law. House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello had criticized Raimondo for making the assumption Congress would act.

CHIP provided insurance coverage for roughly 24,500 children and pregnant women in Rhode Island who make up to 250% of the federal poverty level in the 2015-16 fiscal year, according to the most recent Medicaid report published by the R.I. Executive Office of Health and Human Services.

Three of Rhode Island’s four members of Congress voted in favor of the bill to end the shutdown and reauthorize CHIP, the exception being Democratic Congressman David Cicilline, who argued lawmakers were “kicking the can down the road again.” President Trump signed the bill into law Monday night.Ted Nesi (tnesi@wpri.com) covers politics and the economy for WPRI.com. He is a weekly panelist on Newsmakers and hosts Executive Suite. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook