HOUSE VOTE EXPECTED AS SOON AS WEDNESDAY

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate passed a major funding package on Monday night that is likely to bring to an end the longest partial government shutdown in history.

On a 60-40 vote, the Senate sent to the U.S. House a measure that would fund the government through Jan. 30 and provide full-year appropriations for the Departments of Agriculture and Veterans Affairs, along with legislative operations.

Eight Democratic caucus members broke with the party to support the package, as they did Sunday night on a key procedural vote. Democrats had demanded an extension of enhanced health care subsidies that are set to expire at the end of the year, something they did not get.

The House is expected to reconvene on Wednesday to take up the bill, as Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said he would give his chamber 36 hours to travel back to Washington.

“I’d like for us to be voting on this as early as Wednesday, which is the quickest we could process it if the Senate does their work,” Johnson said Monday evening on Fox News.

President Donald Trump said he supports the deal, and that “we’ll be opening up our country, very quickly.” He said he would abide by the deal’s provisions relating to firing federal employees. The bill would require rehiring fired federal employees, while barring mass layoffs, as the administration has sought, through Jan. 30.

“The deal is very good,” Trump said.

Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., and most Democrats opposed the bill, along with Republican Rand Paul of Kentucky. But enough moderate and retiring Democrats had grown weary of prolonging the shutdown. Republicans have refused to negotiate on health care, saying that subject should be tackled after – not before – the government reopens.

With Republicans in control of the White House and Congress, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., said late Sunday night that Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s promise to hold a vote on extending the expiring Affordable Care Act tax credits by next month is enough to get her to support the bill.

“This was the only deal on the table,” Shaheen said. “It was our best chance to reopen the government and immediately begin negotiations to extend the ACA tax credits that tens of millions of Americans rely on to keep costs down.”

The bill also would provide final full-year funding for programs covered by the agriculture, legislative branch and military construction-VA bills, which were in the package the Senate passed earlier this year.

Before voting for passage, the Senate voted against an amendment proposed by Paul to strip out language he objected to in the agriculture funding bill regulating the hemp industry. The amendment was tabled on a 76-24 vote.

Paul has said the language, pushed by his Kentucky counterpart Mitch McConnell, would “destroy” the industry.

Democrats also made a last-ditch attempt to secure a one-year extension of the enhanced health insurance subsidies, as Schumer had proposed as a compromise last week.

“I just can’t stand by without a fight,” said Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., who offered an amendment for a one-year extension. “Americans have said loudly and clearly that they are in a health care crisis.”

Republicans have said they will not support extending those subsidies without negotiating changes to make health care costs more sustainable. An effort to take up her amendment was defeated, 47-53, with every Republican opposing it.

Democrats also sought an amendment designed to prohibit the Trump administration’s use of a “pocket rescission,” a legally untested budget maneuver that allows the White House to cancel previously appropriated funds within 45 days of the end of a fiscal year without congressional approval. The administration relied on that procedure to claw back nearly $5 billion in foreign aid earlier this year.

An effort by Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., to take up an amendment to prohibit the practice was defeated on a 47-53 vote along party lines.

The House vote to end the shutdown will be one of the chamber’s first since Sept. 19, when it passed a continuing resolution that would have extended funding through Nov. 21. Johnson has kept his members home since that vote to increase pressure on the Senate. The new bill is expected to pass the House with support from nearly all Republicans and likely at least a few Democrats.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., is against the bill, and House Democrats are expected to widely oppose it. Many are angry that eight Senate Democratic caucus members had cut short a shutdown they had hoped to use as leverage to extend the expanded health insurance subsidies.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress had adopted the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which, among other provisions, temporarily expanded eligibility for the premium tax credits for tax years 2021 and 2022. Notably, the law eliminated the income limit of 400% of the federal poverty level, thereby allowing more Americans to quality, and provided larger subsidies compared to the original Affordable Care Act. The Biden administration and Congress then extended these enhanced tax credits in the 2022 Budget Reconciliation Law for another three years and established the sunset date of Jan. 1, 2026.

This CQ-Roll Call article was syndicated via the Associated Press.