Mike Johnson says House lawmakers should start returning to DC \u201cright now\u201d after a small group of Senate Democrats broke a 40 day stalemate late Sunday evening and voted with Republicans to move forward with legislation that would end the government shutdown.<\/b>
\nSpeaker Mike Johnson said Monday that House lawmakers should start returning to Washington \u201cright now\u201d after a small group of Senate Democrats broke a 40-day stalemate late Sunday evening and voted with Republicans to move forward with legislation that would end the government shutdown.
It is unclear when the Senate will hold final votes on the legislation. But Johnson said the \u201cnightmare is finally coming to an end\u201d after the Senate voted 60-40 to consider a compromise bill to fund the government.
\u201cWe have to do this as quickly as possible,\u201d Johnson said at a news conference Monday morning. He has kept the House out of session since mid-September, when the House passed a bill to continue government funding.
After weeks of negotiations, the moderate Senate Democrats agreed to reopen the government without a guaranteed extension of health care subsidies, angering many in their caucus who have demanded for more than six weeks that Republicans negotiate with them on the Affordable Care Act tax credits that expire Jan. 1. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., promised a mid-December vote on the subsidies, but there was no guarantee of success.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York voted against moving ahead with the package, along with all but eight of his Democratic colleagues.
\u201cWe will not give up the fight,\u201d Schumer said, adding that Democrats have now \u201csounded the alarm\u201d on health care.
An end to the shutdown could still be days away if any senators object and drag out the process. Thune said Sunday evening that he was still working out concerns within his Republican conference about individual provisions in the underlying spending bills.
One of those Republicans, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, had threatened to object to a provision championed by his home state colleague, Sen. Mitch McConnell, to prevent the sale of some hemp-based products.
\u201cWe\u2019ll revisit that tomorrow after we have more clarity on where things stand,\u201d Thune told reporters after the vote on Sunday night.
President Donald Trump has not said whether he will sign it, but told reporters at the White House Sunday evening that it \u201clooks like we\u2019re getting close to the shutdown ending.\u201dFive Democrats switch votes
A group of three former governors \u2014 New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, New Hampshire Sen. Maggie Hassan and Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine \u2014 broke the six-week stalemate on Sunday when they agreed to vote to advance three bipartisan annual spending bills and extend the rest of government funding until late January in exchange for the mid-December vote on extending the health care tax credits.
The agreement also includes a reversal of the mass firings of federal workers by the Trump administration since the shutdown began on Oct. 1 and would ensure that federal workers receive back pay.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune quickly endorsed the deal and called an immediate vote to begin the process of approving it as the shutdown continued to disrupt flights nationwide, threaten food assistance for millions of Americans and leave federal workers without pay.
\u201cThe time to act is now,\u201d Thune said.
In addition to Shaheen, King and Hassan, Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, home to tens of thousands of federal workers, also voted in favor of moving forward on the agreement. Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat, Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman and Nevada Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen also voted yes.
The moderates had expected a larger number of Democrats to vote with them as 10-12 Democratic senators had been part of the negotiations. But in the end, only five switched their votes \u2014 the exact number that Republicans needed. King, Cortez Masto and Fetterman had already been voting to open the government since Oct. 1.A bipartisan agreement
Democrats had voted 14 times not to reopen the government as they demanded the extension of tax credits that make coverage more affordable under the Affordable Care Act. Republicans said they would not negotiate on health care, but GOP leaders have been quietly working with the group of moderates as the contours of an agreement began to emerge.
The agreement includes bipartisan bills worked out by the Senate Appropriations Committee to fund parts of government \u2014 food aid, veterans programs and the legislative branch, among other things. All other funding would be extended until the end of January, giving lawmakers more than two months to finish additional spending bills.
The deal would reinstate federal workers who had received reduction in force, or layoff, notices and reimburse states that spent their own funds to keep federal programs running during the shutdown. It would also protect against future reductions in force through January and guarantee federal workers would be paid once the shutdown is over.Democrats call the vote a \u201cmistake\u201d
Schumer, who received blowback from his party in March when he voted to keep the government open, said he could not \u201cin good faith\u201d support it after meeting with his caucus for more than two hours on Sunday afternoon to discuss the proposal.
Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who caucuses with the Democrats, said giving up the fight was a \u201chorrific mistake.\u201d Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., agreed, saying that voters who overwhelmingly supported Democrats in last week\u2019s elections were urging them to \u201chold firm.\u201d
House Democrats swiftly criticized the Senate.
Texas Rep. Greg Casar, the chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said a deal that doesn\u2019t reduce health care costs is a \u201cbetrayal\u201d of millions of Americans who are counting on Democrats to fight.
\u201cAccepting nothing but a pinky promise from Republicans isn\u2019t a compromise \u2014 it\u2019s capitulation,\u201d Casar said in a post on X. \u201cMillions of families would pay the price.\u201d
Rep. Angie Craig of Minnesota posted that \u201cif people believe this is a \u2018deal,\u2019 I have a bridge to sell you.\u201d
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries blamed Republicans and said Democrats will continue to fight.
\u201cDonald Trump and the Republican Party own the toxic mess they have created in our country and the American people know it,\u201d Jeffries said.Health care debate ahead
It\u2019s unclear whether the two parties would be able to find any common ground on the health care subsidies before a promised December vote in the Senate. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has said he will not commit to bring it up in his chamber.
On Monday, Johnson said House Republicans have always been open to voting to reform what he called the \u201cunaffordable care act\u201d but again did not say if they would vote on the subsidies.
Some Republicans have said they are open to extending the COVID-19-era tax credits as premiums could skyrocket for millions of people, but they also want new limits on who can receive the subsidies and argue that the tax dollars for the plans should be routed through individuals.
Other Republicans, including Trump, have used the debate to renew their yearslong criticism of the law and called for it to be scrapped or overhauled.Shutdown effects worsen
Meanwhile, the consequences of the shutdown have been compounding. U.S. airlines canceled more than 2,000 flights on Sunday for the first time since the shutdown began, and there were more than 7,000 flight delays, according to FlightAware, a website that tracks air travel disruptions.
Treasury Secretary Sean Duffy said on CNN\u2019s \u201cState of the Union\u201d that air travel ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday will be \u201creduced to a trickle\u201d if the government doesn\u2019t reopen.
At the same time, food aid was delayed for tens of millions of people as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits were caught up in legal battles related to the shutdown.
And in Washington, home to tens of thousands of federal workers who have gone unpaid, the Capital Area Food Bank said it is providing 8 million more meals ahead of the holidays than it had prepared for this budget year \u2014 a nearly 20% increase.<\/p>\n