The US Senate on Monday approved a compromise that would end the longest government shutdown in US history, breaking a weeks-long stalemate that has disrupted food benefits for millions, left hundreds of thousands of federal workers unpaid and snarled air traffic.
The 60-40 vote passed with the support of nearly all of the chamber’s Republicans and eight Democrats, who unsuccessfully sought to tie government funding to health subsidies that are due to expire at the end of the year.
While the agreement sets up a vote next month on those subsidies, which benefit 24 million Americans, it does not guarantee they will continue.
Photo: AFP
The deal, which would restore funding for federal agencies, includes a reversal of mass firings of federal workers since the shutdown started on Oct. 1 and would stall US President Donald Trump’s campaign to continue downsizing the federal workforce, preventing any layoffs until Jan. 30 next year.
The legislation next heads to the Republican-controlled US House of Representatives, where Speaker Mike Johnson has said he would like to pass it as soon as today and send it on to Trump to sign into law.
“It appears our long national nightmare is finally coming to an end,” said Johnson, who has kept the House out of session since mid-September, when the House passed a bill to continue government funding.
The deal would extend funding through Jan. 30, leaving the federal government, for now, on a path to keep adding about US$1.8 trillion a year to its US$38 trillion in debt.
Coming a week after Democrats won high-profile local elections in New Jersey, Virginia and elected a democratic socialist as the next mayor of New York, the deal has provoked anger among many Democrats who said there is no guarantee that the Republican-controlled Senate or House would agree to extend the health insurance subsidies.
“We wish we could do more,” said US Senator Dick Durbin, the chamber’s No. 2 Democrat. “The government shutting down seemed to be an opportunity to lead us to better policy. It didn’t work.”
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, who received blowback from his party in March when he voted to keep the government open, said he could not “in good faith” support it after meeting with his caucus for more than two hours on Sunday.
“We will not give up the fight,” Schumer said, adding that Democrats have “sounded the alarm” on healthcare.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll from late last month found that 50 percent of Americans blamed Republicans for the shutdown, while 43 percent blamed Democrats.
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