After weeks of false starts and failed votes, the US Senate secured the 60 votes needed late Sunday night to pass a compromise continuing resolution that would reopen the federal government after seven Democrats and an independent sided with Republicans to support the measure to send it back to the House for another vote. The Democratic caucus has aimed anger at the defectors, who nonetheless branded their decision as being the best available option.
They were Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Tim Kaine of Virginia, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen of Nevada, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, and independent Angus King of Maine who caucuses with the Democrats. Republican senator Rand Paul of Kentucky was the sole member of his party to vote against the bill, which he has done for weeks.
Several of the Democrats who switched their votes face incoming political transitions. Shaheen and Durbin are both retiring after this term while Hassan and Rosen face reelection battles in 2026. Fetterman, Cortez Masto and King have sided with the Republicans since day one.
The legislation extends government funding through 30 January 2026 and includes provisions to halt mass firings of federal workers by the Trump administration, reverse terminations that occurred during the shutdown, and guarantee back pay. It also prohibits additional workforce reductions by government departments and agencies until the end of January.
In a statement after the vote, Shaheen stood by her decision. “This was the only deal on the table. It was our best chance to reopen the government and immediately begin negotiations to extend the ACA tax credits,” she said.
Kaine, whose state of Virginia is home to a substantial federal workforce, said the deal met his requirements. “This legislation will protect federal workers from baseless firings, reinstate those who have been wrongfully terminated during the shutdown, and ensure federal workers receive back pay,” he said.
Cortez Masto, facing pressure from Nevada’s tourism and hospitality sectors, had sided with avoiding a government shutdown since the beginning. “We must extend the ACA enhanced premium tax credits, but that can’t come at the expense of the millions of Americans … [affected] by a shutdown,” she said in a September statement.
King, who sided with reopening the government since the beginning, offered a more resigned assessment of the impasse. “The question was … is a solution on the ACA becoming any more likely? It appears not … In the meantime, a lot of people are being hurt,” he told reporters.
Durbin, who will be retiring, has acknowledged the bill’s limitations while defending the compromise. “This bill is not perfect, but it takes important steps to reduce the shutdown’s hurt,” he said in a statement.
But those statements did not defuse anger from within the Democratic caucus, including Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer who said that their colleagues had abandoned the party’s negotiating position, arguing that the compromise surrendered critical leverage on extending the enhanced ACA tax credits without securing firm commitments from Republicans.
“However this vote turns out, this fight will and must continue,” Schumer said in a statement ahead of the vote.
The new measure now must go back to the House for another vote, though Democratic leadership has already signaled fierce opposition to it. The House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, dismissed the Senate compromise before the vote even happened, saying House Democrats would not back “a promise, a wing and a prayer, from folks who have been devastating the health care of the American people for years”.
Republicans hold a narrow majority in the House, meaning they can pass the bill without Democratic support if they remain united. However, the razor-thin margin means that even a handful of Republican defections could imperil the measure’s passage.
The shutdown, which has become the longest in American history, centers on a dispute over extending enhanced Affordable Care Act premium tax credits. Polling from KFF, a non-partisan health policy research group, shows Americans nearly evenly divided on the standoff, with 48% supporting Democrats’ refusal to approve a budget without the tax credits, even if it prolongs the shutdown, while 50% favor ending the shutdown quickly even without the extension.
Other surveys have shown that most Americans blame Republicans for the shutdown by double-digit margins.
