Some are calling it a compromise, others a caving-in. Eight Democratic Senators on Sunday joined their GOP colleagues to break the impasse over government funding that had resulted in the longest-ever federal shutdown in U.S. history.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]It’s only a first step toward reopening the government, but President Donald Trump described the development as “getting close” to the end of the shutdown, which entered its 41st day on Monday and has resulted in hundreds of thousands of federal workers furloughed, thousands of flights delayed or cancelled due to staffing challenges, and millions facing dwindling food assistance benefits.
Senate Democrats had been withholding their support for a House-passed funding bill over healthcare subsidies they wanted extended, but the eight Democrats who broke rank with their party leadership said they agreed to a handshake deal with the White House and Senate Republicans to back a stopgap measure to fund the government through January in return for a promised future vote on those healthcare subsidies, though the Republicans did not pledge their support for extending them.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D, N.Y.) emerged from a party meeting before the procedural vote on the continuing resolution Sunday saying that he would vote no and expressing disappointment in Republicans for not accepting his earlier compromise offer of supporting the government’s reopening in exchange for a one-year extension of healthcare subsidies. “However this vote turns out,” he said before the continuing resolution passed 60-40, with the help of the eight members of his own caucus, “this fight will and must continue.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D, N.Y.) said House Democrats would not support the funding bill when it returns to the House, where Republicans have a razor-thin majority to pass it without Democratic support. “I don’t think that the House Democratic caucus is prepared to support a promise, a wing and a prayer, from folks who have been devastating the health care of the American people for years,” Jeffries said earlier Sunday on Meet the Press about the reported deal the eight Senate Democrats made.
What’s in the deal?
The continuing resolution acts as a legislative vehicle to reopen the government, and will extend government funding till Jan. 30, 2026.
The legislation will also put an end to the mass firings of federal workers by the Trump Administration during the shutdown, reverse those that have happened, and guarantee back pay. It also includes a prohibition on additional reductions-in-force by government departments and agencies until the end of January.
The agreement also included a larger funding package, bundled with the continuing resolution, that includes three full-year appropriations bills that would fund military construction, veterans’ affairs, the legislative branch, and the Department of Agriculture till Sept. 30, 2026. As part of that, the bill will reinstate funding for health care for veterans; the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) federal assistance program; and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which the Trump Administration had ordered states to undo full payments of.
Included in that package is $204 million to fund enhanced security for Congressmembers and $852 million for U.S. Capitol Police, as well as $812 million for the Government Accountability Office—the same as last fiscal year—which House Republicans had sought to significantly cut down.
A group of Democrats had been engaged in weeks of closed-door negotiations with Republicans. The resultant deal promised that at least eight Democratic Senators—the minimum needed to advance a bill without eliminating the filiibuster—would vote in favor of advancing the funding package.
In exchange for the Democrats’ votes, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R, S.D.) promised a vote in mid-December on an extension bill for ACA subsidies of Democrats’ choosing.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R, La.), however, has made no similar promises for a House vote.
Who is involved and how have others reacted?
Thune, members of the Appropriations Committee, and reportedly Trump, were in talks with several Democrats around a deal to end the shutdown. The seven Democrats and one independent who caucuses with the Democrats who sided with Senate Republicans on the bill were Jeanne Shaheen (D, N.H.), John Fetterman (D, Pa.), Tim Kaine (D, Va.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D, Nev.), Dick Durbin (D, Ill.), Maggie Hassan (D, N.H.), Angus King (I, Maine), and Jacky Rosen (D, Nev.).
Rand Paul (R, Ky.) was the sole Republican to vote against the bill.
Kaine defended his vote, saying the deal “guarantees a vote to extend Affordable Care Act premium tax credits, which Republicans weren’t willing to do,” and he expressed confidence that that vote would ultimately result in an extension of those subsidies.
“Lawmakers know their constituents expect them to vote for it, and if they don’t, they could very well be replaced at the ballot box by someone who will,” Kaine said in a statement.
Shaheen said in a statement that the deal “gives Democrats control of the Senate floor—at a time when Republicans control every level of power—on one of our top legislative priorities.”
“This is a major step that was not predetermined,” Shaheen said. “But weeks of negotiations with Republicans have made clear that they will not address health care as part of shutdown talks—and that waiting longer will only prolong the pain Americans are feeling because of the shutdown.”
But several Democrats criticized the promised future vote as far from a guarantee.
“I am unwilling to accept a vague promise of a vote at some indeterminate time, on some undefined measure that extends the healthcare tax credits,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D, Conn.), told reporters before the vote. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I, Vt.) called it a “policy and political disaster for the Democrats to cave.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s press office posted on X, “Pathetic. This isn’t a deal. It’s a surrender. Don’t bend the knee!”
Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D, Mich.), who had been part of earlier talks around a funding deal, ended up voting no, as did Sens. Jon Ossoff (D, Ga.), Tammy Baldwin (D, Wis.), and Peter Welch (D, Vt.).
“I was involved for many weeks then over the last couple weeks, it changed,” Slotkin told reporters on Sunday evening, adding that she was not involved in final negotiations. “I always said it’s got to do something concrete on health care and it’s hard to see how that happened.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D, N.Y.) said in a post that the average monthly ACA benefit per person of $550 outweighs that of SNAP at $177. “People want us to hold the line for a reason. This is not a matter of appealing to a base. It’s about people’s lives,” she wrote.
What comes next?
Now that the Senate has voted to pass the stopgap measure, Senators are extended to amend the legislation with the broader bill appropriations package. The bill will then face more procedural votes in the Senate, which the group of eight Democrats pledged their support for.
After that, it returns to the House for final passage before it can be sent to Trump’s desk. That means the bill’s passage—and the government reopening—could face several more delays.
“We will fight the GOP bill in the House of Representatives, where Mike Johnson will be compelled to end the seven week Republican taxpayer-funded vacation,” Jeffries said.
Even if the shutdown comes to an end soon, most of the government will only have funding secured through January, which could lead to further stalemate in the not too distant future.
