Senate passes bill to end government shutdown, sending it to House

the Senate Monday night passed a invoice To finance government And ending the longest closure in US history.

The bill, which was approved by a 60-40 vote with the support of a handful of Democratic senators and nearly all Republicans, will be sent to the House.

If approved in the House of Representatives, the agreement will head to the president Donald Trump To be signed into law. Trump said earlier today, Monday He approves the financing dealWhich was negotiated between Republicans and a cabal of moderate Democrats in the Senate.

But House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., added uncertainty to the deal’s fate when he refused to commit to a key guarantee in the deal: reassuring Democrats that Congress will hold a separate vote in December on a possible extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies.

“I’m neither committed to it nor committed to it,” Johnson told CNN.

Johnson On Monday, he called on House members to begin traveling to Washington, D.C., so they can vote as soon as possible on the bill Senate deal.

Johnson spoke to reporters a day after the Senate narrowly approved the first phase of the government reopening deal, which closed on October 1.

Johnson indicated to reporters that he expected the vote to take place in the House of Representatives this week, but he did not mention a specific day. He later told the House GOP caucus during a phone call that he would like the vote to take place on Wednesday, according to a person familiar with the situation.

The House Speaker said he would issue a formal 36-hour notice before the House votes.

“There will be long days and 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 the House out of session since he passed a continuing resolution in September to fund the government until mid-November.

The vote to move forward with the Senate agreement, reached over the weekend, was supported by seven Democrats and one independent who caucuses with Democrats. These votes, along with the support of 52 Republican senators, were enough to reach the 60-vote threshold for passage.

The deal does not include what was the main demand for it Democrats: Enhanced extension Affordable Care Act The tax breaks, which are scheduled to expire at the end of December.

But the agreement, for the first time since the shutdown began, includes a guarantee from Republicans to vote in December on a Democratic-chosen bill to extend those subsidies, which more than 20 million Americans are using to reduce the cost of health insurance plans purchased online. Anti-Corruption Commission Markets.

The Senate agreement would fund the government until the end of January; cancel all shutdown-related layoffs of federal employees; And ensuring that all federal workers receive their regular salaries during the shutdown.

The deal also includes provisions for a bipartisan budget process and prevents the White House from using continuing resolutions to fund the government. CRs have been frequently used to avoid a government shutdown, but they are controversial because they often avoid lawmakers having to make decisions about long-term financing of the government that a regular budget could solve.

The deal would also finance, through September, the project Snap programWhich helps feed 42 million Americans through it Food stamps.

Under a federal law passed in 2019, government employees furloughed during the shutdown must be paid for the time they were off work at their standard rate of pay “at the earliest possible date, regardless of scheduled pay dates.”

– CNBC Emily Wilkins Contribute to this story.