WASHINGTON (AP) — Speaker Mike Johnson said Monday that House members should start returning to Washington “now” after the uproar. Senate Democratic Party Small Group Breaking a 40-day stalemate late Sunday evening, with Republicans in the vote government shutdown.
It is unclear when the Senate will take a final vote on the bill. But Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the “nightmare is finally coming to an end” after the House of Lords voted 60-40 to consider a compromise solution to fund the government.
“We have to get this done as quickly as possible,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson said at a press conference Monday morning. He has kept the House out of session since mid-September, when the House passed the government funding continuation bill.
After weeks of negotiations, moderate Senate Democrats agreed to reopen the government. No extended warranty The cuts to health care subsidies have angered many in the caucus, who have been demanding for more than six weeks that Republicans negotiate with Republicans on the Affordable Care Act tax credits, which are set to expire Jan. 1. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (D) promised a mid-December vote on the subsidies, but there was no guarantee of success.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York voted against moving forward with the policy, along with all but eight Democrats.
“We will not give up the fight,” Schumer said, adding that Democrats are “sounding the alarm” on health care.
The end of the shutdown could still take days if senators object and prolong the process. Thune was still resolving concerns within the Republican conference about individual provisions of the underlying spending bill.
One of those Republicans, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, had threatened to oppose a provision backed by his home state colleague, Sen. Mitch McConnell, that would block the sale of some cannabis-based products.
Thune said Monday that he expects final passage of the Senate bill to take “hours, not days.”
“The American people have suffered for a long time. Let’s not drag this bill out needlessly,” he said.
President Donald Trump has not said whether he will sign it, but told reporters at the White House on Sunday night that “it looks like we are getting closer to the end of the shutdown.”
“We look forward to seeing progress,” said a White House official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the administration’s review.
Five Democrats switch votes
A group of three former governors, New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, New Hampshire Sen. Maggie Hassan and Maine Independent Sen. Angus King, broke a six-week stalemate on Sunday by agreeing to bring forward three bipartisan annual spending bills and extend remaining government funding through the end of January in exchange for a mid-December vote on extending the health care tax credit.
The agreement also includes reversing the mass layoffs of federal workers that the Trump administration has carried out since the government shutdown began on October 1 and ensuring that federal workers receive back pay.
As the government shutdown continues, Senate Majority Leader John Thune immediately endorsed the deal and called for an immediate vote to begin the approval process. Affecting airmail nationwidethreaten food aid It costs millions of Americans and forces federal employees to resign without pay.
“The time to act is now,” Thun said.
In addition to Mr. Shaheen, Mr. King and Mr. Hassan, Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, home to tens of thousands of federal workers, also voted in favor of moving forward with the deal. The second-ranking Democrat, Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, and Nevada Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen also voted in favor.
Moderates had expected more Democrats to vote to go along with the deal, since 10 to 12 Democratic senators were involved in the negotiations. But in the end, only five people switched their votes, exactly the number Republicans needed. Martin Luther King, Cortez Masto and Fetterman had already voted to open the government on October 1st.
bipartisan agreement
Democrats had called for an extension of the Affordable Care Act’s tax credits to make insurance more affordable and had voted 14 times against reopening the government. Republicans have said they will not negotiate on health care, but Republican leaders have been quietly working with moderate groups as the outlines of a deal begin to emerge.
The agreement includes bipartisan legislation put together by the Senate Appropriations Committee to fund parts of the government, including food assistance, veterans programs and the Legislature. All other funding will be extended through the end of January, giving lawmakers more than two months to complete additional spending bills.
The agreement would reinstate federal employees who were notified of layoffs or layoffs, and reimburse states that spent their own funds to keep federal programs going during the shutdown. It would also protect against future troop reductions through January and ensure federal workers will be paid after the shutdown ends.
Democrats call the vote a “mistake”
Schumer faced backlash from his party when he voted to keep the agency in place in March, but after meeting with his caucus for more than two hours to discuss the idea on Sunday afternoon, he said he could not support the government “in good faith.”
Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, who caucuses with Democrats, said abandoning the fight was a “horrible mistake.” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Connecticut, agreed, saying voters: They overwhelmingly supported the Democratic Party in last week’s election. “Stay strong,” he urged them.
House Democrats were quick to criticize the Senate.
Texas Rep. Greg Casar, chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said any deal that does not reduce health care costs is a “betrayal” of millions of Americans who are counting on Democrats to fight.
“Accepting only soft promises from Republicans is not a compromise, it’s a surrender,” Cazale said in a post on X. “Millions of families will pay the price.”
Rep. Angie Craig of Minnesota posted, “If people believe this is a ‘deal,’ I have a bridge to sell you.”
Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries criticized Schumer in March for voting to keep the government in place. But he praised Senate Democratic leadership on Monday and expressed support for them during the shutdown.
“The American people know we are on the right side of this fight,” Jeffries said Monday, pointing to Tuesday’s election results.
Discussions regarding medical care will continue
It’s unclear whether the two parties will be able to find any common ground on health care subsidies before the promised December Senate vote. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) said he would not take up the issue on the floor.
Johnson said Monday that House Republicans were always prepared to vote in favor of reforming what he called the “unaffordable care law,” but he also declined to say whether he would vote on subsidies.
Some Republican lawmakers have said they are open to extending COVID-19-era tax credits because it could lead to higher premiums for millions of people, but they also want to put new limits on who can receive the subsidies and argue that taxes for the plans should be routed through individuals.
Trump and other Republicans have used the debate to renew long-standing criticism of the law and call for it to be repealed or overhauled.
Impact of shutdown worsens
Meanwhile, the effects of the shutdown are getting worse. us airlines More than 2,000 flights canceled On Sunday, more than 7,000 flights were delayed for the first time since the shutdown began, according to FlightAware, a website that tracks disruptions to air travel.
Treasury Secretary Sean Duffy said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that air travel before Thanksgiving “will be down just a little bit” if the government doesn’t reopen.
At the same time, food aid for tens of millions of people was delayed in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. advantage caught up legal battle In connection with the shutdown.
And in Washington, where tens of thousands of federal workers have gone without pay, the National Capital Region Food Bank said so. Served over 8 million meals That’s nearly a 20% increase over what they had prepared for this budget year ahead of the holiday season.
___
Associated Press writers Seung Min Kim, Michelle Price, Stephen Groves and Kevin Freaking contributed to this report.
