Key Points:
- the U.S. Senate advanced a bipartisan spending package late Sunday, taking the first major step toward resolving the longest US government shutdown in American history
- The Senate voted 60-40 to advance the funding measure, overcoming a long-standing filibuster and finally achieving the necessary 60-vote threshold
- The breakthrough relied on a coalition of nearly all Republicans and eight moderate Democrats who broke ranks with their leadership to move the process forward.
- The deal does not immediately extend expiring Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies, a core Democratic demand, but guarantees a future Senate vote on the issue in December
The United States Senate delivered a critical breakthrough on Sunday night, advancing compromise legislation that moves Congress closer to ending the nation’s longest US government shutdown in history.
The procedural vote breaks a deadlock that paralyzed federal funding for 40 days, causing widespread disruption to federal workers, public services, and the economy.
The End of an Impasse
The procedural vote represents the first concrete sign of movement after 40 days of legislative paralysis. For over five weeks, the Senate failed to muster the 60 votes required to even consider a funding bill, as Democrats and Republicans remained locked in a high-stakes standoff.
The US government shutdown began on October 1 when the fiscal year ended without the passage of the 12 necessary appropriations bills.
Senate Republicans had repeatedly pushed a House-passed measure to fund the government without addressing a key Democratic demand, the extension of expiring tax credits that make health insurance affordable for millions of Americans under the Affordable Care Act. Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, blocked the measure fourteen times, insisting that any funding bill must include the healthcare provision.
Compromise Forged by Moderates
The breakthrough came late Sunday night after a group of moderate Democratic senators, including Jeanne Shaheen, Maggie Hassan, and Angus King, brokered a deal with Senate Republican Leader John Thune and the White House. This bipartisan compromise combined three full-year appropriations bills (a “minibus”) with a stopgap funding bill—known as a continuing resolution (CR)—to reopen the rest of the government through late January.
As reported by The Washington Post, the bill received the exact 60 votes needed to advance, with nearly all Republicans joining eight Democrats in the affirmative. The deal’s key concession from the Democratic side involved separating the healthcare issue from the immediate task of funding the government.
The Sticking Point, ACA Subsidies
Democrats had strongly argued that allowing the enhanced ACA subsidies to expire would cause insurance premiums to skyrocket for millions of Americans, making health coverage unaffordable. A study by the Congressional Budget Office warned of significant premium hikes if Congress did not act.
In the final agreement, as reported by CBS News, the senators committed to holding a separate vote on legislation to extend the subsidies by the second week of December. This promise, however, proved insufficient for many in the Democratic caucus, including Minority Leader Schumer, who voted against advancing the bill. Schumer stated he could not in good faith support a measure that failed to immediately address the “health care crisis” looming over American families.
Impact on Federal Workers and Services
The effects of the prolonged US government shutdown reached deeply into the daily lives of nearly a million federal employees who either worked without pay or were furloughed. Federal workers, including essential personnel like air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents, faced severe financial strain, leading to food bank lines and warnings of compromised public safety.
The compromise legislation addresses this immediate crisis by guaranteeing retroactive pay for all federal workers and reversing some of the mass layoff notices issued by the administration during the shutdown, a measure that helps restore stability to the federal workforce.
Despite the Senate’s key vote, the government does not reopen immediately. The compromise bill now returns to the House of Representatives, which must approve the Senate’s amended version. House Speaker Mike Johnson has not guaranteed passage, especially given the conservative opposition to the underlying funding levels and the promised vote on the ACA subsidies. The political pressure to end the historic US government shutdown, however, has never been higher.
