Senate Breaks Shutdown Stalemate as House Fight Heats Up
'We’re focused right now on continuing the battle in the House of Representatives'
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WASHINGTON _ Lawmakers inched closer to ending the nation’s longest-ever government shutdown Monday evening when the Senate passed temporary funding legislation through Jan. 30 in an 60-40 vote. The breakthrough came after centrist Democratic senators struck a deal with Senate Republicans, winning a commitment for a future vote on expanded Affordable Care Act subsidies.
The continuing resolution funds the government through Jan. 30, 2026, and reinstates all federal employees who were terminated through workforce reductions implemented by President Trump during the shutdown. It also blocks similar job cuts through fiscal year 2026 and ensures federal workers get their regular paychecks throughout the closure, including those who weren’t allowed to work.
The bill fully finances the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and locks in a Senate vote on ACA subsidies by mid-December, though the details and outcome remain up in the air. Sens. Angus King (I-Maine), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) led the negotiations on the Democratic side.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune urged his colleagues on the floor Monday: “The American people have suffered for long enough. Let’s not pointlessly drag this bill out. Let’s get it done. Get it over to the House so that we can get this government open.”
The package provides full-year funding for the Agriculture Department, Food and Drug Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs, military construction and congressional operations — hammered out after months of bipartisan talks. The White House has signaled its support for the deal.
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) backed the deal, saying he’d “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.” The deal “guarantees a vote to extend Affordable Care Act premium tax credits, which Republicans weren’t willing to do,” he added. “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.”
Kaine said the bill “will protect federal workers from baseless firings, reinstate those who have been wrongfully terminated during the shutdown, and ensure federal workers receive back pay, as required by a law I got passed in 2019.”
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) acknowledged the deal isn’t perfect but voted for it anyway, breaking with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. “During the historic roll call last night, I walked across the aisle and met with Senator John Thune, the Republican leader. I told him that I was counting on him to keep his word on this agreement. He assured me he would,” Durbin said on the floor Monday.
Schumer opposed the agreement: “I must vote no. This health care crisis is so severe that I cannot in good faith support this CR. This fight will and must continue.”
Republican Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) also voted against it over spending concerns. “Tonight the process of opening the govt begins, less chaos is a good thing but hidden deep in the swamp speak of the Republican bill will be a waiver of PAYGO the long-standing law requiring new spending to be offset with cuts. And so it goes, a trillion here a trillion there. $38 trillion in debt and counting. A depressing outcome,” Paul wrote on X.
Paul came under fire from some Republicans who accused him of delaying the vote over his criticisms of hemp language in the bill. He fired back on X: “Just to be clear: I am not delaying this bill. The timing is already fixed under Senate procedure. But there is extraneous language in this package that has nothing to do with reopening the government and would harm Kentucky’s hemp farmers and small businesses. Standing up for Kentucky jobs is part of my job.”
The Kentucky Republican’s amendment to change the bill was ultimately tabled by an overwhelming margin.
But the Senate deal now faces an uphill battle in the House, where Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) hasn’t committed to holding a vote on ACA subsidies — a major sticking point for Democrats. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) slammed the agreement and vowed to oppose it.
“We’re focused right now on continuing the battle in the House of Representatives on behalf of the American people. It’s been a seven-week battle. We’ve continued to make the same point that we’ll find a bipartisan path forward anytime, anyplace, with anyone, but we have to decisively address the Republican healthcare crisis,” he told reporters Monday. Democrats are slated to whip against the measure in the House.
One senior House Democrat was even more blunt, telling 24Sight News: “It’s a pathetic sellout. They got nothing. No vote in House and no guarantees on ACA.”
Republicans have fired back, accusing Democrats of holding the government hostage over partisan demands. Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) took aim at Democrats on X: “Any House member of Problem Solvers who votes no on the Senate compromise CR to open up the government, should immediately resign from Problem Solvers and admit they aren’t serious about governing.”
House GOP leadership told members they’re aiming for a Wednesday vote with a possible Thursday backup, urging lawmakers to get back to Washington as quickly as possible given the flight disruptions.
While getting a guaranteed Senate vote on ACA subsidies was key to bringing Democrats on board in the upper chamber, Johnson doubled down Monday that he won’t commit to putting the bill on the floor, telling reporters Republicans are “going to do in the House what we always do, and that is a deliberative process on whatever the proposal is.”
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My head wants to explode every time I see that statement from Sen. Kaine about the alleged “guarantee” of a vote on the ACA subsidies. Even giving Sen. Thune the benefit of the doubt that such a vote will take place in the Senate, this is meaningless if there is not also a vote in the house. In the note I sent Sen. Kaine a couple of hours after the news broke on Sunday night, I said the likelihood of Speaker Johnson allowing such a vote in the House is slim to none, and Sen. Kaine undoubtedly knows this. (Sure enough, Speaker Johnson subsequently told the world that he would not commit to a vote.) So why did Sen. Kaine make such a plainly insupportable statement about a guaranteed vote? Did he actually think his constituents would believe it? (She asks, rhetorically)