Senate Clears Bill To End 41-Day Government Shutdown

The Senate approved a government funding package to reopen the federal government Monday night over the objections of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and a majority of Democrats.

Lawmakers voted 60 to 40 to pass the legislation with eight Democrats joining with Republicans to support the measure. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul was the lone Republican to vote “no,” citing the measure’s insufficient spending cuts.

Democratic Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Tim Kaine of Virginia, Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire and Dick Durbin of Illinois voted “yes” on the legislation to bring an end to the 41-day shutdown standoff. Independent Maine Sen. Angus King, who caucuses with Democrats, also supported the funding package.

The bipartisan shutdown package will fund the government through the end of January and advance a slate of appropriations bills that will fund the Departments of Veterans’ Affairs and Agriculture, the legislative branch and military construction for the current fiscal year.

In return, Senate Republicans have committed to holding a vote on extending enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies slated to expire at year’s end and rehire federal workers laid off during the shutdown.

President Donald Trump told reporters in the Oval Office Monday that he will abide by the terms of the deal, calling it “very good.”

The successful vote brings Congress one step closer to ending the record-breaking shutdown. The House of Representatives will have to approve the legislation before President Donald Trump can sign the measure into law.

The final vote came after the same group of Democratic caucus members advanced the stopgap bill on Sunday night in a notable break with Schumer and House Democratic leadership. The defecting senators argued the shutdown’s pain for Americans had become too great and that the minor concessions secured from Republicans were sufficient.

“Many of my friends are unhappy. They think we should have kept our government closed indefinitely,” Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, the second-ranking Democrat who supported the shutdown deal, said on the Senate floor Monday. “I cannot accept a strategy which wages political battle at the expense of my neighbor’s paycheck or the food for his children.”

“It’s become clear after six weeks of the shutdown that the strategy of shutting down the government and forcing the Republicans to talk about the ACA wasn’t working,” King said in a video posted to social media on Sunday night. “The shutdown wasn’t achieving its goal, and it was at the same time hurting a lot of people.”

The group of seven Democrats and King voted to advance the funding package on Monday evening despite scathing criticism from their Democratic colleagues, left-wing activists and the party’s base.

Fetterman told the Daily Caller News Foundation Monday that more than eight Democratic caucus members supported the Senate deal but were scared to publicly back the legislation.

“There were plenty more than beyond just the eight that wanted to vote but they were afraid,” Fetterman said.

“What has worked in the past is not working now,” Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin, who voted against the government funding package, told reporters Monday regarding Schumer’s strategy during the shutdown. “We need to meet the moment, and we’re not doing that.”

Slotkin and a large chunk of congressional Democrats slammed the shutdown deal as insufficient for failing to secure an ACA subsidy extension. Though Senate Majority Leader John Thune has pledged to hold a vote on an extension bill of Democrats’ choosing in December, Republicans overwhelmingly oppose a clean extension.

Republican Texas Sen. John Cornyn told reporters Monday that a planned vote on a Democratic ACA bill has “no chance” of passing.

Though a number of senators briefly held up the shutdown package Monday, every member ultimately consented to fast-track the legislation to a vote on final passage.

“The American people have suffered for long enough. Let’s not pointlessly drag this bill out,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said on the Senate floor Monday. “Let’s get it done and get it over to the House so that we can get this government open.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson urged lawmakers on Monday to return to Washington to vote on the spending measures later this week. The earliest the House could vote on the legislation is Wednesday, due to Congress observing Veterans Day on Tuesday.

“And as of Sunday, nearly half of all domestic flights and U.S. flights were either canceled or delayed. And it’s a very serious situation,” Johnson told reporters. “So, I’m saying that by way of reminder, I’m stating the obvious to all my colleagues, Republicans and Democrats in the House. You need to begin right now returning to the Hill. We have to do this as quickly as possible.”

(Featured Image Media Credit: Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America / Wikimedia Commons)

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