According to informed sources, the U.S. government shutdown has set a new record for duration. A group of moderate Democratic senators have agreed to support a deal that will reopen the government and provide funding for some departments and agencies for next year. The U.S. government shutdown is about to come to an end.
Under the agreement, Congress will pass full-year appropriations for the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Veterans Affairs and Congress itself, while providing funding for other agencies until January 30. The bill will provide back pay for furloughed government workers, restore payments of federal funds withheld to state and local governments, and recall agency employees who were laid off during the government shutdown.
The Senate will hold a procedural vote on Sunday. If the vote passes, the Senate will need unanimous consent from all members to quickly end the government shutdown. Any senator could cause days of delay and additional votes.
The House of Representatives needs to pass the bill for the government to reopen. House Speaker Mike Johnson said he would notify lawmakers two days in advance to return to the parliament.
“It looks like we’re getting closer and closer to the end of the government shutdown,” President Donald Trump told reporters as he returned to the White House on Sunday night.
Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, whose home state of Virginia is home to many federal employees, said on Sunday that he would support the deal, citing the bill’s ban on new federal layoffs until January 30.
It is still uncertain whether the House of Representatives will pass the bill. Democratic leaders have publicly opposed any agreement that does not include an extension of the Obamacare subsidies that are set to expire, which this bill does not contain. Meanwhile, conservative Republican lawmakers hope to pass a bill that would fund the entire government until September 30 next year.
This face-saving deal also falls far short of the goals of House and Senate Democratic leaders, who had demanded an extension of the soon-to-expire Obamacare premium subsidies and the repeal of the Republican cuts to Medicaid passed earlier this year.
According to a person familiar with the matter, Democrats have received a commitment from Republicans to vote on a bill aimed at extending the Affordable Care Act tax credits by mid-December.
The promise first made by Senate Majority Leader John Thune several weeks ago did not satisfy all Democrats.
“We will oppose this Republican bill in the House,” House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a statement Sunday night.
Previous report: The White House said that despite Trump’s statement, the US will still distribute some food stamp funds.
The 40-day government shutdown is coming to an end, which is similar to the previous situations where the parties that tried to use government shutdowns to achieve policy victories ultimately failed. Trump failed to obtain funds for the construction of the border wall during the 2018-2019 government shutdown, and the Republicans also failed to repeal Obamacare during the 2013 government shutdown.
This year, Democrats voted 14 times to block a no-strings-attached temporary funding bill passed by the House on September 19 that would have kept all departments and agencies running until November 21. On Wednesday, this government shutdown became the longest in U.S. history, surpassing the 35-day shutdowns in 2018 and 2019 during Trump’s first term.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Sunday night that he would oppose the deal. Schumer had said on Friday that Democrats were willing to allow the government to reopen in exchange for a one-year extension of Obamacare tax credits.
Republicans quickly rejected the proposal, with many of them demanding a complete replacement of Obamacare with the yet-to-be-revealed Republican alternative.
Republicans have decided to obstruct the Democrats’ demand for an additional $1.5 trillion in spending and have kept the House of Representatives in recess since September 19. The White House has stepped up its pressure, dismissing a large number of government employees, threatening not to pay the salaries of more than 600,000 federal employees who have been forced to take leave, and attempting to ignore court orders to pay food stamp benefits.
As the Thanksgiving travel rush approaches, Transport Minister Sean Duffy ordered airlines to cancel flights, causing great inconvenience to passengers. On Sunday, he said the situation would only get worse during the holiday.
These strategies largely worked, forcing enough Senate Democrats to compromise under pressure. Even though the Republicans controlled both chambers of Congress, they still needed eight Democrats to support a temporary spending bill in order to end the Senate debate.
