The Senate passed legislation Monday night to end the longest government shutdown in history after a splinter group of Democrats joined Republicans to break the gridlock.
The legislation, which passed 60-40, would fund the government through January 30 and provide funding for some government agencies through the end of the fiscal year. The House is expected to take up the legislation as soon as Wednesday.
Senate Democrats opted to shut the government down 41 days ago, refusing to back a House-passed continuing resolution and demanding instead that Republicans agree to extend Obamacare subsidies that are set to expire at the end of the year as part of any government funding bill.
Eight Senate Democrats ultimately chose to break ranks after concluding that Republicans intended to stand their ground as government services stalled and air travel degenerated with the holidays fast approaching.
“We had no path forward on health care because the Republicans said, ‘We will not talk about health care with the government shut down,’” said Senator Tim Kaine (D., Va.). “And we had SNAP beneficiaries and those relying on other important services who were losing benefits because of the shutdown.”
Kaine was joined by fellow Democratic Senators Dick Durbin, Maggie Hassan, Jeanne Shaheen, Jacky Rosen, Catherine Cortez Masto, John Fetterman and Angus King. Senator Rand Paul was the lone Republican to vote against the bill.
Speaker Mike Johnson held a press conference Monday to discuss plans to reopen the government after a breakthrough procedural vote in the Senate Sunday night. Johnson urged House members to return to Washington “right now” for the impending vote.
“We’ll be opening up our country very quickly,” Johnson said.
The Senate-passed legislation does not address the expiring Obamacare subsidies that motivated Democrats to begin the shutdown in the first place, but Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R., S.D.) has promised to hold a vote on the subsidies before the end of the year, though the legislation is all but guaranteed to founder in the GOP-held Senate.
Spurred on by their activist base and progressive pundits, the left wing of the Democratic party responded to Sunday night’s procedural vote by lashing out at their colleagues who buckled and voted with Republicans. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer came in for special criticism on the grounds that he had failed to hold his caucus together and is therefore no longer fit to lead.
All eight Senate Democrats who broke ranks can afford the political blowback: Two are retiring and the other six aren’t up for reelection next year.
“The question was, does the shutdown further the goal of achieving some needed support for the extension of the tax credits?” said Senator Angus King, an independent from Maine who caucuses with Democrats and backed the deal. “Our judgment was that it will not produce that result. And the evidence for that is almost seven weeks of fruitless attempts to make that happen. Would it change in a week or another week or after Thanksgiving or Christmas? And there’s no evidence that it would.”
“What there is evidence of,” Mr. King added, “is the harm that the shutdown is doing to the country.”
Democrats made a last-ditch effort Monday night to add a provision to the spending bill that would have extended the Obamacare subsidies for another year. That proposal was rejected in a 43-57 party line vote.