US shutdown still days away from ending even as Senate deal moves ahead

The US government is still days away from reopening as the Senate winds its way through potentially time-consuming procedures and House members travel back to Washington to vote for the first time since Sept. 19.

The Senate plans to resume deliberations on a deal with centrist Democrats at 11 a.m. Monday but has not yet scheduled a vote for final passage. House Speaker Mike Johnson said he would give House lawmakers 36 hours’ notice to return to the Capitol once the Senate passes the bill.

President Donald Trump must sign the legislation into law after Congress passes it.

Flight disruptions and food aid delays are likely to persist until the shutdown officially ends. Still, Republicans on Monday took a victory lap, with Johnson telling reporters that the shutdown “nightmare,” now in its 41st day, is finally coming to an end.

Stocks rallied Monday morning on bets the shutdown will soon end, with the S&P 500 up more than 1% shortly after the market opened. A gauge of the “Magnificent Seven” megacaps climbed over 2%. Bonds fell.

The moderate senators’ deal failed to deliver the extension of the Affordable Care Act subsidies that Democrats staked their shutdown fight on, provoking a furious backlash within the party just days after many Democrats were celebrating last week’s election victories.

California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom called the deal “pathetic” while Illinois Governor Jay Pritzker slammed Republican concessions in the agreement as an “empty promise.”

The Senate took a major step toward reopening the federal government Sunday evening as it voted 60-40 on a procedural measure to advance a temporary funding bill.

Under the agreement, Congress would pass full-year funding for the departments of Agriculture, Veterans Affairs and Congress itself, while funding other agencies through Jan. 30. The bill would provide pay for furloughed government workers, resume withheld federal payments to states and localities and recall agency employees who were laid off during the shutdown.

Given that the House has to return to Washington and has promised to give lawmakers advance notice, the government is most likely to reopen toward the end of the week. One complicating factor is whether Senator Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, imposes days of Senate delay to oppose a provision restricting the sale of intoxicating hemp products.

House passage is not guaranteed, although Johnson predicted Monday there would be enough votes. Democratic leaders have spoken out against any deal that doesn’t include extending expiring Obamacare subsidies, which this bill does not do. Conservative Republican members want a bill that would fund the entire government until next Sept. 30.

“We have to do this as quickly as possible,” Johnson told reporters, musing there could be several late nights ahead.

The face-saving accord falls far short of the goals of House and Senate Democratic leaders, who had demanded an extension of expiring Obamacare premium subsidies and a repeal of Medicaid cuts passed by Republicans earlier this year.

Democrats secured a pledge by Republicans to vote on a bill to renew the Affordable Care Act tax credits by mid-December, according to a person familiar with the talks.

“That’s a big deal, and it gives us a chance to put the Republicans to the test,” Senator Angus King, an independent from Maine who usually supports Democratic positions but is backing temporary funding, said on MSNBC Monday morning. “It may not succeed, I grant that, but a reasonable chance, ten, twenty percent, thirty percent is a lot better than zero percent.”

That promise, which Senate Majority Leader John Thune first offered weeks ago, was not satisfying to all Democrats.

“We will fight the GOP bill in the House of Representatives,” House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a statement Sunday night.

Even the daughter of one of the moderate Democrats who reach the deal publicly slammed the agreement.

“I cannot support this deal,” Stefany Shaheen, daughter of New Hampshire Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen and congressional candidate, said in a social media post. “Too many people will see health care costs that are already too high skyrocket even further starting in January.”

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The approaching resolution of the shutdown mirrors that of past showdowns where the party attempting to leverage a government closure for policy victories ends up without a victory. Trump failed to secure border wall funding through the 2018-2019 shutdown and Republicans failed to repeal Obamacare during the 2013 closing.

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—With assistance from Caitlin Reilly.