The Senate on Monday approved a funding package that is expected to bring to a close the longest government shutdown in US history, after a coalition of Democrats broke from their party and voted with Republicans, in a move that has enraged many in their caucus.
The vote passed in a 60-40 tally, with seven Democrats and one independent joining all Republicans to approve a compromise deal that would fund most federal agencies through January. The agreement, which next goes to the House of Representatives, does not directly address the expiring tax credits for healthcare premiums, the issue at the center of the 40-day stalemate between Democrats and Republicans, though the Senate majority leader John Thune has promised a Senate vote later this year on the subsidies.
Donald Trump has already expressed support for the deal, and Speaker Mike Johnson has urged members of the House – which has been on an extended recess since the shutdown began – to return in preparation for a vote and a swift delivery to the president’s desk.
The legislation extends government funding at current levels through January 2026 along with three year-long provisions that will fund programs at the Department of Veterans Affairs, the USDA and FDA, and legislative branch operations. The continuing resolution also includes language to stop mass federal firings and reverse dismissals that occurred during the shutdown – prohibiting additional reductions until the end of January – and guarantees back pay to workers who have spent weeks without paychecks.
Speaking from the Oval Office on Monday, Trump said he would abide by the terms of the deal, including provisions reinstating federal workers who had received reductions-in-force notice.
“We’re going to be opening up our country very quickly,” Trump said. “The deal is very good.”
Democrats have been fighting for the permanent extension of subsidies that support Americans relying on the Affordable Care Act, which are scheduled to expire at the end of the year. Without an extension of the tax credits, millions of Americans could see sharp rises in their healthcare premiums or lose their marketplace coverage entirely.
The eight senators in the Democratic caucus who worked with Republicans to craft the deal are facing fierce backlash from party leaders to the activists who have mobilized behind the shutdown strategy for failing to win any of the healthcare concessions that they had sought. Democrats have said they are counting on a commitment that the chamber would take up a separate vote on a healthcare bill by mid-December.
“This was the only deal on the table,” Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat from New Hampshire said in a statement posted online, defending her decision to vote for the bill. “It was our best chance to reopen the government and immediately begin negotiations to extend the ACA tax credits.”
The fury is so great among Democrats that some have called on the Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer to resign, even though he voted against the deal and was sharply critical of its components. “He either blessed this surrender, or was incapable of leading his caucus to hold the line,” Indivisible wrote in a notice urging members to call their senators and demand Schumer step aside.
Despite the Senate’s compromise, there was no guarantee any Democratic healthcare proposal would pass the Republican-controlled chamber. Earlier on Monday, Republicans rejected an amendment offered by Wisconsin senator Tammy Baldwin that would have extended the ACA tax credits for one year.
“A handshake deal with my Republican colleagues to reopen the government and no guarantee to actually lower costs is simply not good enough,” Baldwin said in a floor speech. “The people I work for need more than that.”
Speaker Johnson said on Monday he would not guarantee a vote in the House on the Affordable Care Act subsidies.
“We’re going to do in the House what we always do, and that is a deliberative process,” he told CNN. “As you know, I do not guarantee the outcome of legislation or dates or deadlines or anything,” he added.
The Senate vote to end the gridlock comes as hundreds of thousands of furloughed federal workers missed paychecks, millions of Americans were at risk of losing food assistance and the transportation secretary Sean Duffy warned that air traffic controllers were facing unprecedented strain and that travelers should brace for further chaos unless the government is reopened.
