After 43 days and more than a dozen attempts to reopen the government, President Trump signed the funding package, passed by the Senate and House, into law.
The longest government shutdown in history came to an end on Wednesday after weeks of gridlock causing air travel disruptions, denying access to food benefits to millions and forcing thousands of federal workers to go without paychecks.
After 43 days and more than a dozen attempts to reopen the government, President Trump signed the funding package, passed by the Senate and House, into law late Wednesday, meaning the funding lapse is officially over.
Here’s how the shutdown started, and eventually came to an end:A Senate standoff
The standoff began in late September as lawmakers faced a deadline to fund the government by the start of a new fiscal year on Oct. 1. House Republicans passed a short-term funding measure on Sept. 19 to keep the government funded at existing levels until Nov. 21. But with Democratic support needed to move forward with any funding measure in the Senate, the chamber was at an impasse.
The top Democrats in Congress had been pushing since August to meet with GOP leaders and the White House on the funding issue, ramping up their calls to address expiring health care tax credits as the Oct. 1 shutdown deadline drew near.
With few opportunities to exert influence with a GOP-controlled House, Senate and White House, Democrats set out to center health care issues in the funding fight — setting their sights on the expiring health insurance tax credits as their key demand. The credits, under the Affordable Care Act, help millions of Americans pay for health insurance premiums for plans purchased on state exchanges. Their expiration would mean eye-popping increases in insurance costs for those with ACA plans.
Months earlier, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer faced intense pushback for voting to advance a GOP measure during the last funding fight, increasing the pressure on him to dig in this time around.
Democrats sought to negotiate, introducing a counter-proposal to the House-passed measure to fund the government that included their health care demands. But Republicans remained steadfast in their belief that health care and other issues should be negotiated outside the context of funding the government, and urged Democrats to agree to a «clean» temporary funding extension.
Over the course of seven weeks, Republicans and Democrats traded blame for the funding impasse. Senate Republicans put forward the House-passed funding measure for a vote 14 times, seeking to peel off support from Democrats as the caucus remained largely united in their opposition. But throughout it all, member-level bipartisan conversations seeking an offramp were bubbling under the surface.
As the weeks dragged on, the real-world effects of the shutdown began to take their toll, raising the stakes for the continuing stalemate and pushing Democrats to make a deal.
