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US government shutdown to end soon? Senate passes key funding bill
With the Senate having approved the temporary funding bill, it now heads to the House of Representatives for a vote.
The record 41-day US government shutdown is likely to end by Wednesday after the Senate passed legislation on Monday to reopen the government. Several Democratic senators sided with Republicans in a 60-40 vote to pass the deal, drawing criticism from within their party.
Since October 1, when the shutdown began, over a million federal employees have gone unpaid, and government services and benefits have faced growing disruptions. The crisis has also started to affect air travel, with more than 1,000 flight cancellations reported each day.
The deal
The Democratic senators struck an agreement that dropped the party’s push to extend expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies, angering those who had supported the high-stakes confrontation with US President Donald Trump.
The bill also overturns the mass dismissals of federal workers carried out by the Trump administration since the shutdown began on October 1. It further protects government employees from additional job cuts until January and guarantees that they will receive their pay once the shutdown ends.
California’s Democratic governor Gavin Newsom described the deal as “pathetic,” while Illinois governor JB Pritzker criticised the Senate’s response to Democratic demands as an “empty promise.”
Which Democrats backed the deal in Senate?
Democratic senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, voted on Sunday to advance the agreement. Other Democrats who supported the measure included Illinois senator Dick Durbin, the party’s number two in the Senate, Pennsylvania senator John Fetterman, and Nevada senators Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen.
All remaining Democrats, including Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York, opposed the proposal.
What happens next?
With the Senate having approved the temporary funding bill, it now heads to the House of Representatives for a vote. Like the Senate, the House is under Republican control and could vote on the measure as early as Wednesday before sending it to Trump for approval.
The Republican-led House still needs to clear the spending package, which would fund most parts of the government until January 30 and extend funding for certain agencies until September 30.
