US Senate takes steps toward vote to end historic federal shutdown | US federal government shutdown 2025

The U.S. Senate on Sunday headed for a vote on reopening the federal government, suggesting the end of the historic shutdown, now in its 40th day, is near.

Senate Republican majority leader John Thune said senators plan to advance the House-passed stopgap funding bill as early as Sunday night, with the understanding that it would be amended to combine a short-term funding measure with a package of three full-year appropriations bills.

The amended package still must pass the House of Representatives and be sent to Donald Trump for signature; This process may take several days.

Senate Democrats have so far resisted efforts to pass a funding measure aimed at pressuring Republicans to accept health care fixes that include extending expiring subsidies under the Affordable Care Act. Under the agreement being discussed, the Senate would agree to hold a separate vote on the subsidies later.

Connecticut’s Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal told reporters he would vote against the funding measure but suggested there might be enough Democratic support to pass it.

“I don’t want to accept a vague ballot promise at an uncertain time on an uncertain measure that would expand health tax credits,” Blumenthal said.

New Mexico Democrat Ben Ray Luján said “the Senate could get a vote” on health insurance credits. “I’m going to emphasize ‘may’. So, will Speaker Johnson do anything? Will the President do anything?”

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson previously said he would not vote on a plan to expand tax credits that make health insurance affordable for millions of Americans who don’t have insurance through their employers.

Two leading progressives in the Senate Democratic caucus were even more dismissive of the emerging compromise. “This is a mistake,” said Massachusetts’ Elizabeth Warren he told Punchbowl News. “It would be a policy and political disaster if Democrats caved,” said Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

Democrats in the House of Representatives expressed their regret about this situation. House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries vowed to fight against the proposed legislation. “We will not support spending legislation advanced by Senate Republicans who failed to expand the Affordable Care Act tax credits. We will fight the GOP bill in the House,” Jeffries said. a statement.

“A deal that does not lower health care costs is a betrayal of millions of Americans who trust Democrats to fight for them,” says Greg Casar, a Texas Democrat who leads the House progressive caucus. wrote to x. “Republicans want cuts to health care. Not accepting anything other than the Republicans’ little finger is not a compromise, it’s a surrender. “Millions of families will pay the price for this,” he said.

“Unacceptable,” Florida congressman Maxwell Frost interjected. “There are 189,000 people in my district who will pay 50-300% more for the same and in many cases worse healthcare. I will not do that to the people I represent. I am NO to this ‘deal’.”

Democrats outside Washington also condemned the compromise. “Pathetic. This is not an agreement. This is surrender. Don’t kneel!” California Governor Gavin Newsom wrote on social media.

As Sunday marked the 40th day of a shutdown that has sidelined federal workers and affected food aid, parks and travel, a shortage of air traffic control personnel threatens to derail travel during the busy Thanksgiving holiday season later this month. Thom Tillis, a Republican senator from North Carolina, said the mounting effects of the shutdown were pushing the chamber toward a deal. He said the final piece, a new decision to fund government operations through the end of January, would reverse at least some of the Trump administration’s mass layoffs of federal workers.

“Temperatures are cool, atmospheric pressure is increasing outside, and suddenly everything looks like it’s going to be okay,” Tillis told reporters. White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett warned on CBS’ Face the Nation that economic growth could turn negative in the fourth quarter if the government shuts down much longer, especially if air travel doesn’t return to normal levels by Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving falls on November 27 this year.

Americans shopping for 2026 Obamacare health insurance plans will face monthly premiums more than doubling on average as pandemic-era subsidies expire at the end of the year, health experts predict. Republicans on Friday rejected a proposal from Democratic Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer to vote to reopen the government in exchange for a one-year extension of tax credits that reduce costs for plans under the Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as Obamacare.

Democratic California senator Adam Schiff said Sunday he believes Trump’s health care proposal aims to gut the ACA and allow insurers to deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions.

“So the same insurance companies he rails against in these tweets are saying, ‘I’m going to give you more authority to cancel people’s policies and not cover people if they have pre-existing conditions,'” Schiff said on ABC’s This Week.