Deal to end government shutdown goes down to the wire in Senate

The days may be officially numbered for the longest partial government shutdown in history.

On Day 40 of the funding impasse, enough Senate Democrats now plan to vote for cloture on the newly introduced spending package unveiled Sunday to get over the 60-vote hurdle and finally break the logjam.

An initial test vote Sunday night on the revised, beefed-up legislation looked set to get over that threshold - just barely, with exactly 60 votes - though final passage is unlikely until later this week. The vote was being held open to allow for Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, to return to the Capitol.

New Hampshire centrists Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan, as well as independent Angus King of Maine - former governors of their New England states - led talks with the White House and Senate GOP leaders to find a way out of the health insurance impasse that's kept the government closed for weeks.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said the arrangement includes a commitment to vote on a Democratic-drafted extension of expanded health insurance subsidies by mid-December, ahead of their Dec. 31 expiration.

Another key provision for Democrats who'd been on the fence would reverse mass layoffs announced by the Trump administration since the shutdown began Oct. 1, at least while the government remains open.

In addition to the aforementioned three Democrats and King, who caucuses with the party, Democratic Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada and John Fetterman of Pennsylvania - consistent votes to reopen the government thus far - are on board with the plan.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., who's sided with Democrats in opposing any package that doesn't deal with skyrocketing premiums for insurance policies on the Affordable Care Act exchanges, said Sunday night he'd vote for the revised bill.

"I have long said that to earn my vote, we need to be on a path toward fixing Republicans' health care mess and to protect the federal workforce," Kaine said in a statement. "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."

Other Democrats who voted for cloture on the motion to proceed include Cortez Masto's home state colleague Jacky Rosen, and the chamber's No. 2 Democrat, Richard J. Durbin of Illinois.

The eight caucus defectors made up for the loss of Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., the lone "no" vote on his side of the aisle - thus far. GOP Sens. Mike Lee of Utah, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Rick Scott of Florida were seen huddling in the back of the chamber and had not yet voted.

The new continuing resolution would extend current funding levels through Jan. 30, along with three full-year appropriations bills covering the Departments of Agriculture and Veterans Affairs as well as legislative operations. It also carries a host of "extender" provisions for authorizing committees that haven't completed work on other bills, mostly through January, though there is a one-year farm bill extension.

Compromise versions of the Agriculture, Military Construction-VA, and Legislative Branch bills were released Sunday afternoon, reflecting the results of numerous late-stage wheeling and dealing.

The measures generally hew closer to higher, Senate-backed spending levels, while dropping a number of contentious riders sought by House Republicans. On some issues dividing their own party, GOP leaders threaded the needle, including on compromise language to regulate the hemp industry that had split Kentucky Sens. Mitch McConnell and Paul.

Republicans were showing some give on the stopgap funding piece of the package as well, including on shutdown-related demands from the Democrats.

Republicans were getting ready to reverse some of the actions initiated by White House budget director Russ Vought as pressure tactics, for example, including thousands of federal worker layoffs announced since the shutdown began Oct. 1. The text also would ensure that federal workers who've been furloughed or required to work without pay during the shutdown receive back pay.

"It looks like we're getting close to the shutdown ending," President Donald Trump told reporters as he returned to the White House after the Washington Commanders game, which he took in with Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. "You'll know very soon."

^ Health care commitment?

The package doesn't include anything involving the top demand sought by Democrats: an extension of enhanced health insurance subsidies that are scheduled to expire at year's end.

Senate GOP leaders have committed to schedule votes on as-yet-unspecified legislation to renew the expanded tax credits before their Dec. 31 expiration date. But that's not good enough for many Democrats in both chambers, who wanted to tie legislative language to the emerging stopgap funding package.

"I have been clear on this from the beginning: I will not turn my back on the 24 million Americans who will see their premiums more than double if we don't extend these tax credits," Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., said in a statement Sunday.

Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., who'd been lambasted by the left for months after agreeing to Republicans' full-year stopgap measure in March, held out until the end.

"I must vote no. This health care crisis is so severe, so urgent … that I cannot in good faith" vote to support the package, Schumer said. "We must fight to keep millions from financial ruin."

But he didn't try to force his caucus to keep up the fight in the face of massive pressure from government worker unions, food aid lapses, widespread flight cancellations and more.

And while the December vote will be on a Democratic-written health care bill, GOP conservatives like Scott, Johnson and Lee have their own ideas about how to revise "Obamacare." They've pitched taking insurance subsidies and converting them into government-funded health savings accounts, for example.

The vote Sunday night was to get on the doomed, House-passed continuing resolution that Democrats have been rejecting for weeks. Thune plans to swap in the Senate's new stopgap measure along with the three full-year bills and other bipartisan agreements.

^ Veterans funding spat

House Republicans are expected to mostly fall in line if the bill can get out of the Senate. But enough defections on the GOP side are possible that it would require at least some token support among House Democrats, who've largely come out blasting since the deal was made public.

"House Democrats have consistently maintained that bipartisan legislation that funds the government must also decisively address the Republican healthcare crisis," House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said in a statement.

And Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, rebuked GOP leaders Sunday afternoon for releasing the text of a final Military Construction-VA bill without signoff from House Democrats.

"It is unfortunate Senate Republicans prematurely released partial text of the minibus without getting agreement from all corners," DeLauro said in a statement. "Congress must invest in veterans, address the health care crisis that is raising costs on more than 20 million Americans, and prevent President Trump from not spending appropriated dollars in our communities."

Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, said the other three "corners" of House and Senate Appropriations leadership had signed off on the Military Construction-VA bill, but DeLauro was seeking a provision related to advance appropriations "that would violate current law."

DeLauro is concerned that the bill wouldn't fund an additional year of mandatory benefits for veterans exposed to toxic chemicals overseas under a new program established in 2022, according to people familiar with her thinking. The same issue cropped up in final talks on fiscal 2025 funding levels, which also didn't appropriate toxic exposure fund dollars needed for the following fiscal year.

The final fiscal 2026 Military Construction-VA bill takes care of that toxic exposure fund through Sept. 30, with about $50 billion added for that purpose, but does not fund fiscal 2027 benefits. Republicans argue that's not authorized under the 2022 law, an interpretation Democrats disagree with.

But some party centrists - in addition to retiring Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, who has previously sided with Republicans - could ultimately break ranks and provide GOP leaders with a cushion.

"After 40 days, the Senate is showing real signs of progress," Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, said Sunday. "This marks the most meaningful movement toward compromise in weeks."

^‘Moratorium on mischief'

Final negotiations on stopgap funding had been hampered by "ridiculous demands" made by Democrats, Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., chairman of the Senate Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee, said earlier in the day Sunday.

As part of the continuing resolution, senators planned to agree to reverse the mass layoffs the Trump administration ordered up since the shutdown began Oct. 1. But Kaine was said to be seeking further restrictions against future layoffs that remained a point of contention.

Kaine had also called for a "moratorium on mischief," including restrictions on the Trump administration's ability to claw back previously appropriated funds. Mullin said Republicans planned to provide "some" but not all of Kaine's requests.

The apparent breakthrough came after weeks of mounting pressure. Airlines have canceled hundreds of flights to cope with a shortage of unpaid air traffic controllers, while millions of low-income families found their food stamp benefits cut off.

The Trump administration has appealed to the Supreme Court to reverse lower-court rulings requiring that those food benefits be paid in full for the month of November. And the Agriculture Department issued a directive to states to "immediately undo" any steps they have taken to issue full benefits.

That move drew a rebuke from Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska. "Those states should not be penalized for doing that," she told reporters. "That, to me, is just shockingly wrong."