The US Senate voted to end the record-setting government shutdown on Monday night following a deal made by a group of Democrats against leader Chuck Schumer.
The bill will now go to the House, who may return to Washington as soon as Wednesday to vote on the legislation and reopen the government.
The vote passed by a 60-40 tally, achieving the minimum number of votes to pass and avoid the filibuster.
President Donald Trump has signaled support for the bill, saying Monday that ‘we´re going to be opening up our country very quickly.’ The Daily Mail has reached out to the White House for comment.
Speaker Mike Johnson urged lawmakers to start returning to Washington ‘right now’ given shutdown-related travel delays, but he said he would issue an official notice for the House’s return once the Senate passes the legislation.
‘We have to do this as quickly as possible,’ Johnson said at a news conference. He has kept the House out of session since mid-September, when the House passed a bill to continue government funding.
The shutdown has left 42 million Americans with no access to their SNAP benefits, forced airlines to cancel thousands of flights and left more than a million federal workers without an income.
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 that Republicans negotiate with them on the Affordable Care Act tax credits that expire January 1.
The US Senate voted to end the record-setting government shutdown on Monday night following a deal made by a group of Democrats against leader Chuck Schumer. Pictured: Senate Majority Leader John Thune
The vote passed by a 60-40 tally, achieving the minimum number of votes to pass and avoid the filibuster, thanks to the votes of eight Democrats including Virginia’s Tim Kaine (pictured)
Thune promised a mid-December vote on the subsidies, but there was no guarantee of success.
In a possible preview, the Senate voted 47-53 along party lines Monday not to extend the subsidies for a year. Majority Republicans allowed the vote as part of a separate deal with Democrats to speed up votes and send the legislation to the House.
The seven Democrats and one Independent who caucused with the GOP were: Dick Durbin of Illinois, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Tim Kaine of Virginia, Jacky Rosen of Nevada and Angus King (I) of Maine.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York has voted against moving ahead with the package, along with most of his Democratic colleagues.
The legislation includes a reversal of the mass firings of federal workers by the Trump administration since the shutdown began on October 1.
It also protects federal workers against further layoffs through January and guarantees they are paid once the shutdown is over.
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 – the exact number that Republicans needed. King, Cortez Masto and Fetterman had already been voting to open the government since October 1.
The vote passed by a 60-40, achieving the minimum number of votes to pass and avoid the filibuster
President Donald Trump has signaled support for the bill, saying Monday that ‘we´re going to be opening up our country very quickly’
The agreement includes bipartisan bills worked out by the Senate Appropriations Committee to fund parts of government – food aid, veterans programs and the legislative branch, among other things.
Schumer, who received blowback from his party in March when he voted to keep the government open, said he could not ‘in good faith’ support it after meeting with his caucus for more than two hours on Sunday.
‘We will not give up the fight,’ Schumer said, adding that Democrats have now ‘sounded the alarm’ on health care.
Independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who caucuses with the Democrats, said giving up the fight was a ‘horrific mistake.’
Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut agreed, saying that voters who overwhelmingly supported Democrats in last week’s elections were urging them to ‘hold firm.’
House Democrats swiftly criticized the Senate.
Texas Representative Greg Casar, the chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said a deal that doesn´t reduce health care costs is a ‘betrayal’ of millions of Americans who are counting on Democrats to fight.
Others gave Schumer a nod of support. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries had criticized Schumer in March after his vote to keep the government open.
Schumer voted no on the bill after eight Democrats went against him to make a deal
Senator Bernie Sanders called the deal a ‘horrific mistake’
But he praised the Senate Democratic leader on Monday and expressed support for his leadership throughout the shutdown.
‘The American people know we are on the right side of this fight,’ Jeffries said Monday, pointing to Tuesday’s election results.
It´s 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 has said he will not commit to bringing it up in his chamber.
On Monday, Johnson said House Republicans have always been open to voting to reform what he called the ‘unaffordable care act’ 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.
Democrat leaders had up until this point refused to work with the GOP to reopen government unless they agreed to an extension of subsidies for health plans offered under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
Dick Durbin (left) and Jeanne Shaheen (right) are two of the Democrats who voted to end the shutdown. Both are retiring in 2026
Catherine Cortez Masto (left) and John Fetterman (right) are two other Democrats who opted to vote with Republicans. The duo will face re-election in 2028
As part of the newly agreed upon deal, the ACA will be put to a vote by mid-December.
Despite holding a majority in Congress, Republicans only have 53 seats in the Senate, falling short of the 60 votes needed to pass a funding bill.
Both parties have been uneasy about the shutdown’s escalating consequences. They are eager to get the government running again before the situation worsens.
Concerns range from delayed flights and unpaid federal workers to economic strain and suspension of food assistance for vulnerable families.
The crisis reached boiling point last week as 42 million Americans who rely on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits were informed the money had run dry due to the shutdown for the first time in history.
Already, upwards of 730,000 government employees are working without pay and a further 600,000 have been furloughed as a result of the crisis.
Then, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned that staffing shortages as a result of the shutdown are worsening, potentially reducing air travel to a trickle right in time for the holiday season.
On Sunday alone, more than 2,000 flights were canceled into, out of, or within the United States and a further 7,000 delayed.
The travel chaos will only get worse as airlines are mandated to gradually reduce their schedules further over the next week.
But the bulk of the Senate Democrats were not on board with the decision to work with Republicans to end the shutdown, and could still introduce procedural hurdles that could delay final passage of the bill.
Schumer emerged from a closed door meeting on Sunday evening after news broke that Republicans had secured the numbers they needed.
‘I’m voting no,’ he said, adding that everyday Americans ‘need healthcare.’
Senator Elissa Slotkin said: ‘I always said, like, it’s got to do something concrete on health care, and it’s hard to see how that happened.’
And Senator Bernie Sanders warned it ‘would be a policy and political disaster’ to cave to the Republican demands after such a resounding win during state elections last week.
‘My own thought is that it would be a horrific mistake to cave in to Trump right now,’ he said.
‘Essentially, if Democrats cave on this issue, what it will say to Donald Trump is that he has a green light to go forward toward authoritarianism, and I think that would be a tragedy for this country.’
California Governor Gavin Newsom was among vocal critics to instantly hit out at his colleagues for caving to Republican demands.
‘Pathetic. America deserves better,’ Newsom said. ‘This isn’t a deal. It’s a surrender. Don’t bend the knee!’
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said he and other House members are committed to ‘fight’ the deal.
‘We will not support spending legislation advanced by Senate Republicans that fails to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits,’ Jeffries said.
‘We will fight the GOP bill in the House of Representatives, where Mike Johnson will be compelled to end the seven week Republican taxpayer-funded vacation.’