House will vote on Senate deal ASAP, Johnson says

House Speaker Mike Johnson on Monday urged House members to begin traveling to Washington, D.C., so they can vote as soon as possible on a Senate agreement that would end the longest U.S. government shutdown in history.

Johnson, R-La., spoke to reporters a day after the Senate narrowly approved the first phase of a deal to reopen the government that was shut down Oct. 1.

To end the shutdown, the House of Representatives must approve any agreement that survives a Senate vote. President Donald Trump will need to sign it into law.

Johnson told reporters he expected votes in the House of Representatives to take place this week, but did not specify a specific date.

The Speaker said he would issue a formal notification 36 hours before the House vote.

“There will be long days and long nights here for the foreseeable future to make up for all this lost time that has been forced upon us,” Johnson said.

Johnson has kept Parliament out of session since September when he agreed to a resolution continuing to fund the government until mid-November.

The Senate deal struck over the weekend had support from seven Democrats and one independent caucusing with Democrats; This agreement, combined with the votes of 52 Republican senators, was enough to reach the 60-vote threshold.

The deal does not include Democrats’ core demand: an extension of the Enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits, which are set to expire at the end of December.

But for the first time since the shutdown began, the deal includes a guarantee that a bill chosen by Democrats will be voted on by Republicans in December to expand subsidies that more than 20 million Americans use to reduce the cost of health insurance plans purchased through the ACA marketplaces.

The Senate agreement will fund the government until the end of January; reversing all shutdown-related layoffs of federal employees; guarantee that all federal employees will be paid their regular wages during the shutdown; and includes provisions for a bipartisan budget process and preventing the White House from using continuing resolutions to fund the government.

It would also fund the SNAP program, which has helped feed 42 million Americans through food stamps through September.

The deal does not include Affordable Care Act tax credits that were enhanced through the end of December. Senate Democrats have been insisting for weeks that any funding decision must include an extension of ACA subsidies that reduce the cost of health insurance for 20 million Americans.

However, under the agreement, Democrats in the Senate will be allowed to vote on a bill of their choice to extend the tax credits.

Under a federal law passed in 2019, government employees furloughed during the shutdown must be paid at standard wage rates for the time they remain unemployed “at the earliest practicable date, regardless of their scheduled payment date.”

This is developing news. Check back for updates.