Senate passes first stage of new deal

The Senate late Sunday night passed the first stage of a deal that would end the U.S. government shutdown, which began on Oct. 1.

The procedural measure that allows other votes essential to the agreement to be held starting on Monday was approved with the bare minimum of 60 yes votes, after eight senators in the Democratic caucus broke with party leadership to support the deal. Forty senators voted no.

Voting was held open on the Senate floor for more than two hours to allow for the arrival of the final “aye” vote, cast by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who flew to Washington, D.C., on Sunday evening for the proceeding.

Senators broke into applause when Cornyn walked in to vote for the measure, just before 10:50 p.m. ET.

The agreement, which was reached after round-the-clock negotiations over the weekend, would fund the U.S. government through the end of January.

The deal does not include what had been the key demand for Democrats: an extension of enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits, which are due to expire at the end of December.

But the agreement, for the first time since the shutdown began, includes a guarantee by Republicans of a vote in December on a bill chosen by Democrats to extend those subsidies, which more than 20 million Americans use to reduce the cost of health insurance plans purchased on ACA marketplaces.

The deal would need to be approved by the House of Representatives and signed into law by President Donald Trump before the shutdown ends.

The deal calls for a reversal of all permanent layoffs of government employees during the shutdown and protection of such so-called reductions-in-force happening until the end of fiscal year 2026.

It also guarantees that all federal workers will be paid their normal salaries during the shutdown, when many of them were not allowed to work.

The package includes provisions for having a bipartisan budget process and preventing the White House from using continuing resolutions to fund the government.

It would also fund, through September, the SNAP program, which helps feed 42 million Americans through food stamps.

The Trump administration last week said that it would not pay SNAP benefits in November because of the shutdown, and on Friday won a temporary order from the Supreme Court blocking a federal judge’s ruling mandating that full SNAP benefits be paid to recipients this month. The administration has said it will pay only partial food stamp benefits.

With Cornyn not on the floor, the vote for more than 25 minutes was stuck at 56 ayes and 40 nays, with three other GOP senators, Rick Scott of Florida, Wisconsin’s Ron Johnson and Mike Lee of Utah, not voting, for unclear reasons.

All three eventually voted aye, in quick succession, after they spoke with Senate Majority Leader John Thune.

One Republican, Rand Paul of Kentucky, voted against the measure.

“After 40 long days, I’m hopeful that we can bring the shutdown to an end,” said Thune, before the vote.

Thune’s efforts to pass a continuing resolution to reopen the government had failed in 14 prior votes before Sunday night.

Thune negotiated the deal with the White House and three members of the Democratic caucus, Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan, both Democrats from New Hampshire, and independent Sen. Angus King of Maine.

The other Democrats who voted for the deal were the party’s whip, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Nevada’s Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, and Virginia’s Tim Kaine.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent who caucuses with the Democrats, called the deal “horrific” and said that the Republicans’ agreement to schedule a vote next month on the ACA credits was a “totally meaningless gesture.

King, during a press conference while the vote was still ongoing, said that he would tell his constituents that he agreed to drop the main demand of extending the ACA credit “because it wasn’t working.” 

“It’s been six weeks,” King said. “The Republicans made it clear they weren’t going to discuss the health care issue, the Affordable Care Act tax credits, until the shutdown was over.

“Would it change in a week or another week or after Thanksgiving or Christmas? And there’s no evidence that it would,” he said. “What there is evidence of is the harm that the shutdown is doing to the country.” 

Shaheen, at the same press conference, said, “This was the only deal on the table.”

“It was our best chance to reopen the government and immediately begin negotiations to extend the ACA tax credits that tens of millions of Americans rely on to keep costs down,” Shaheen said.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., in angry remarks on the Senate floor, said he would not vote for the deal.

Schumer blasted Republicans and Trump for refusing to agree to extend the ACA credits, which he said would lead to much higher health insurance costs for millions of people in 2026.

“This health care crisis is so severe, so urgent, so devastating for families back home that I cannot, in good faith, support this [continuing resolution] that fails to address the health care crisis,” Schumer said.

Kaine, before voting to support the deal, said, “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.”

“This deal guarantees a vote to extend Affordable Care Act premium tax credits, which Republicans weren’t willing to do,” Kaine said.

“Lawmakers know their constituents expect them to vote for it, and if they don’t, they could very well be replaced at the ballot box by someone who will.”

A strong majority of Americans favor extending the enhanced subsidies, which were adopted during the Covid-19 pandemic.