The longest government shutdown in American history took a giant step toward being resolved last night when eight U.S. Senate Democrats crossed the aisle to get behind a Republican plan to reopen the government, multiple national media outlets are reporting.
The eight senators broke ranks from Democratic leadership who’d drawn a line in the sand regarding guarantees on funding Obamacare. The defectors included Sens. Angus King, I-Maine, John Fetterman, D-Pa., Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., Tim Kaine, D-Va., and the number two Democrat in the Senate, Dick Durbin, D-Ill.
Commentators across the board called the situation a cave-in by Democratic lawmakers, who ultimately got in line without having gained much. Democrats did achieve reversals of some of the firings of furloughed workers imposed by the Trump administration and guaranteeing back pay for furloughed workers.
But as critics on the left and the right pointed out, aside from gaining the guarantee of a later vote on the health care subsidies, the shutdown did nothing to move the needle on the core issue of preserving government-sponsored health care funding.
Sunday’s vote was a lynchpin in a series of maneuvers needed to modify the original House of Representatives-passed continuing resolution and combine it with the three-bill spending package and updated CR. If passed, the measure would reopen the government until Jan. 30, 2026. It is hoped that would buy Congress enough time to work out a more permanent funding package.
This is a developing story and will be updated as new details emerge.
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