The Senate passed legislation Monday to reopen the government, moving the longest shutdown in American history closer to conclusion as a small group of Democrats approved an agreement with Republicans despite intense criticism from within their party.
The 41-day shutdown could extend several more days as House members, who have been on recess since mid-September, return to Washington to vote on the legislation. President Donald Trump has indicated support for the bill, stating Monday that “we’re going to be opening up our country very quickly.”
The final Senate vote, 60 to 40, broke a grueling impasse that persisted for more than six weeks as Democrats insisted that Republicans negotiate with them to extend health care tax credits expiring 1 January. The Republicans never engaged in those negotiations, and five moderate Democrats eventually switched their votes as federal food aid faced delays, airport disruptions worsened and hundreds of thousands of federal workers continued without paychecks.
House Speaker Mike Johnson urged lawmakers to begin returning to Washington “right now” given shutdown-related travel delays. “We have to do this as quickly as possible,” stated Johnson, who has kept the House out of session since mid-September, when the House passed a bill to continue government funding.
After weeks of negotiations, a group including New Hampshire Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan, along with Independent Senator Angus King of Maine, agreed to vote to advance three bipartisan annual spending bills and extend remaining government funding until late January. Republicans promised to hold a vote to extend the health care subsidies by mid-December, though no guarantee of success exists.
Shaheen said Monday that “this was the option on the table” after Republicans refused to budge.
“We had reached a point where I think a number of us believed that the shutdown had been very effective in raising the concern about health care,” she stated, and the promise for a future vote “gives us an opportunity to continue to address that going forward.”
The legislation includes a reversal of mass firings of federal workers by the Trump administration since the shutdown began on 1 October. It also protects federal workers against further redundancies through January and guarantees they receive payment once the shutdown concludes.
In addition to Shaheen, King and Hassan, Democratic Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, home to tens of thousands of federal workers, also voted Sunday in favour of moving forward on the agreement. Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, the number two Democrat, Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman and Nevada Senators Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen also voted affirmatively. All other Democrats, including Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York, voted against it.
The moderates had expected a larger number of Democrats to vote with them as 10 to 12 Democratic senators had participated in negotiations. However, in the end, only five switched their votes, the exact number Republicans needed. King, Cortez Masto and Fetterman had already been voting to reopen the government since 1 October.
Schumer, who received criticism from his party in March when he voted to keep the government open, said he could not “in good faith” support it after meeting with his caucus for more than two hours on Sunday.
“We will not give up the fight,” Schumer said, adding that Democrats have now “sounded the alarm” on health care.
Independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who caucuses with the Democrats, described abandoning the fight as a “horrific mistake.” Senator Chris Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, agreed, stating that voters who overwhelmingly supported Democrats in last week’s elections were urging them to “hold firm.”
House Democrats swiftly criticized the Senate.
Texas Representative Greg Casar, chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, called a deal that does not reduce health care costs a “betrayal” of millions of Americans counting on Democrats to fight.
Others offered Schumer support. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries had criticized Schumer in March after his vote to keep the government open. However, he praised the Senate Democratic leader on Monday and expressed support for his leadership throughout the shutdown.
“The American people know we are on the right side of this fight,” Jeffries said Monday, pointing to Tuesday’s election results.
The unclear path forward on health care subsidies before a promised December Senate vote remains contentious. House Speaker Mike Johnson has stated he will not commit to bringing it up in his chamber.
On Monday, Johnson said House Republicans have always been open to voting to reform what he called the “unaffordable care act” but again did not indicate whether they would vote on the subsidies.
Some Republicans have indicated openness to extending the COVID-19-era tax credits as premiums could skyrocket for millions of people, though they also want new limits on who can receive the subsidies. Some argue that tax dollars for the plans should be routed through individuals.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins said Monday she supports extending the tax credits with modifications, like new income caps. Some Democrats have signalled they could be open to that idea.
“We do need to act by the end of the year, and that is exactly what the majority leader has promised,” Collins stated.
Other Republicans, including Trump, have used the debate to renew their years-long criticism of the law and called for it to be scrapped or overhauled.
In a possible preview, the Senate voted 47 to 53 along party lines Monday not to extend the subsidies for a year. Majority Republicans allowed the vote as part of a separate deal with Democrats to expedite votes and send the legislation to the House.
