The Senate passed a short-term continuing resolution this afternoon by a margin of 81–18, effectively ending the government shutdown. In a stark reversal from the position they staked out on Friday night, 33 Senate Democrats voted for the bill. “In a few hours, the government will reopen,” Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor.
The vote comes after a bipartisan group of senators hashed out a deal: Democrats would vote for the continuing resolution if Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell would promise to hold vote on immigration legislation before February 8, when the CR expires. But, with blame for the shutdown falling mostly to the Democrats, the GOP made no substantive concessions. “The strategy of shutting down the government over the issue of illegal immigration is something the American public did not understand,” McConnell said.
The bill, like the one Democrats blocked on Friday, reauthorizes the Children’s Health Insurance Program for the next six years.