The US Senate on Monday approved a settlement deal aimed at ending the longest government shutdown in the country’s history.
The weeks-long shutdown cut off food aid for millions of people, left hundreds of thousands of federal employees without pay, and caused air traffic disruptions.
The vote was approved by a vote of 60 to 40, with support from almost all Republicans in the House of Representatives and eight Democrats. Democrats have tried unsuccessfully to tie government funding to health care subsidies that expire at the end of the year and benefit 24 million Americans.
Although the agreement calls for a vote on this support in December, it does not guarantee its continuation.
The agreement restores funding to federal agencies that expired on October 1. Additionally, it disrupts President Donald Trump’s campaign to reduce the number of federal employees, preventing layoffs through January 30.
The agreement now heads to the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, where President Mike Johnson has expressed his desire to approve it as quickly as possible and send it to Trump to sign it into law.
Trump himself described the agreement as “very good.”
The funding will be extended through Jan. 30, keeping the federal government on track to add about $1.8 trillion annually to its $38 trillion debt.
The agreement has sparked frustration among many Democrats, especially after Democratic victories in recent elections, because there is no guarantee that the Republican-controlled Senate or House of Representatives will agree to extend health benefits.
Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, the chamber’s second-ranking Democrat, lamented, “We wish we could have done more… The government shutdown seemed like an opportunity to move us toward better policy. But it didn’t work.”
A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in late October indicated that 50% of Americans blamed Republicans for the shutdown, while 43% blamed Democrats.
Although Trump unilaterally canceled billions of dollars in spending and cut hundreds of thousands of federal employees, which is an infringement on Congress’s constitutional authority regarding financial matters, the agreement does not appear to include any specific guarantees to prevent him from enacting further spending cuts.
However, the agreement guarantees funding for the Snap food subsidy program through September 30 of next year, avoiding potential interruptions if Congress votes on a new government shutdown during that period.
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