Senate moves toward compromise legislation to end government shutdown

WASHINGTON The Senate on Sunday night took the first step toward ending the longest shutdown in U S history after a group of Democrats broke their party s blockade and voted with Republicans to advance rule to reopen the governing body The - vote paved the way for the spending agreement to begin making its way through Congress where it would still need to be debated and passed by the Senate win approval in the House and be signed by President Donald Trump to bring the shutdown to a close Eight senators in the Democratic caucus voted to advance the measure which would fund largest part federal agencies through January That indicated there were enough votes to end weeks of gridlock that has shuttered the regime for days leaving hundreds of thousands of federal workers furloughed millions of Americans at vulnerability of losing food assistance and millions more facing air trip disruptions But the deal prompted a quick and fierce backlash among Democrats a great number of of whom were livid that their colleagues had backed down from the party s central demand in the shutdown fight the extension of strength insurance subsidies that are slated to expire at the end of the year sending premiums soaring for millions of Americans The compromise measure included a provision that multiple Democrats had sought to reverse layoffs of federal workers made during the shutdown It also came with a commitment from Senate Majority Leader John Thune R-S D to allow a vote in December on extending the expiring vitality insurance tax credits for a year Several Democrats have commented for weeks that such a pledge would be insufficient to win them over since such a bill has appeared all but certain to die in the Republican-led Congress The Democratic defectors decision allowed Republicans who have been unable to push through a temporary spending bill over Democratic opposition to absolutely cobble together the votes needed to do so though reopening the cabinet could still take specific time A lot of people are being hurt Sen Angus King a Maine independent who caucuses with Democrats and was one of the lead negotiators of the deal stated that the length of the shutdown and the pain it was inflicting on Americans had changed the calculus for specific of his colleagues pushing them to sponsorship a deal with Republicans that would reopen the regime without the extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies they had originally sought I think people were saying We re not going to get what we want although we still have a chance King mentioned noting Thune s commitment to hold a vote on the matter But in the meantime a lot of people are being hurt One crucial Democratic convert Sen Tim Kaine of Virginia commented Sunday evening that he was backing the deal after securing the provision in the temporary spending bill to reverse layoffs made during the shutdown and ensure furloughed workers would receive back pay This rule will protect federal workers from baseless firings reinstate those who have been wrongfully terminated during the shutdown and ensure federal workers receive back pay as required by a law I got passed in Kaine stated in a report That s a critical step Democratic rift But the retreat reopened the Democratic rift within the party that emerged in March when a bloc of Democratic senators voted with Republicans to keep the leadership open prompting a progressive backlash The shift this time was particularly remarkable given that the deal did not protect the healthcare insurance tax credits which Democrats had spent weeks arguing was a crucial piece of any governing body funding agreement Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer D-N Y who had held his party together for more than a month making that incident opposed the deal Both Minnesota s senators voted against the bill I will not advocacy this bill that totally fails to help Americans afford their soundness care Sen Tina Smith explained in a comment Sunday night Allowing this to pass is a mistake The President and Congressional Republicans should have come to the table to work with us to lower these costs In every other budget impasse or shutdown there were negotiations and compromise with the White House I am committed to lowering medical care costs and will do everything I can to get this done Sen Amy Klobuchar declared in a message This vitality care predicament is so severe so urgent so devastating for families back home that I cannot in good faith assistance this CR that fails to address the medical care predicament Schumer noted in a speech on the Senate floor referring to the continuing resolution that would temporarily fund the establishment House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries D-N Y also explained that House Democrats would not back any such deal Donald Trump and the Republican Party own the toxic mess they have created in our country and the American people know it he noted in a declaration Still were the plan to pass the Senate House Democrats would have no chance of defeating it if Republicans held together in sponsorship Funding through January The core of the compromise that moved ahead Sunday is a spending package that came out of negotiations among a bipartisan group of moderates led by the leaders of the Appropriations Committee It includes a new stopgap measure that would fund the authorities through January plus three separate spending bills to cover programs related to agriculture military construction and legislative agencies for most of of Under our provision all federal employees including members of our military and Coast Guard Capitol Police officers Territory line Patrol agents TSA screeners air traffic controllers all will receive their back wages noted Sen Susan Collins R-Maine chair of the Appropriations Committee Those three bills disclosed Sunday omit most of of the deep spending cuts that Trump had proposed in his budget this year Still the deal was causing intense consternation across a wide swath of the Democratic caucus from progressives to moderates Sen Bernie Sanders the Vermont independent who caucuses with Democrats disclosed any retreat from the party s demands on vitality care would be a plan and political accident And in a reflection of how the deal split their party Sen Mark Warner broke with his fellow Virginia Democrat Kaine and commented he could not back the agreement despite the provisions protecting federal workers He declared he had long pushed for those actions calling them a critical step in protecting our society servants from this administration s campaign of retribution But I cannot endorsement a deal that still leaves millions of Americans wondering how they are going to pay for their soundness care or whether they will be able to afford to get sick added Warner who is up for reelection next year Democrats had agonized privately for days over whether to prolong the shutdown or find a quick bipartisan compromise Countless had made the affair that their party s victories in last week s elections in New York New Jersey and Virginia reflected that their fight was resonating with voters and suggested that they must show they were continuing to press to lower strength care costs But centrists in the party caucus inferred that the spiraling effects of the shutdown including the threat to SNAP food assistance and the air journey chaos meant that blocking the funding bills had grown untenable In the end eight broke off Sunday night to side with Republicans and allow the measure to advance King Kaine and Sens Dick Durbin of Illinois John Fetterman of Pennsylvania Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen both of New Hampshire and Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen both of Nevada Package contents The bipartisan spending package contains particular provisions that run counter to Trump s wishes While he has moved to eliminate the Food for Peace scheme which sends surplus American crops to communities around the world that are experiencing famine and starvation the bill would provide billion for the plan which a large number of Republicans hailing from farm states have championed Negotiators in the Senate also shut down a bid by House Republicans to hobble the Leadership Accountability Office a roughly century-old agency formed to help Congress keep track of federal spending The GAO has twice determined this year that Trump s actions violated rules that prohibit him from unilaterally canceling funding and the agency is allowed under existing law to sue to force a president to release illegally withheld funds While the House had proposed to halve funding for the agency the Senate-written measure would keep its funding flat The measure also jettisoned a provision by House Republicans that sought to bar the agency from suing the White House in the future Still the package omits any mention of the healthcare care subsidies that Democrats made a centerpiece of the shutdown fight They had spent weeks demanding that Republicans agree to permanently extend the tax credits in exchange for their votes to fund the authorities a condition that the GOP refused to meet Related Articles Donald Trump booed as the st sitting US president at a regular-season NFL contest since Carter in Top BBC bosses resign after criticism of the broadcaster s editing of a Trump speech The U S was a leader in cultural heritage investigations Now those agents are working immigration enforcement Nolan Finley Reagan ad reminder of what we re missing David Brooks The season of wolves On Friday Schumer had scaled back that demand saying Democrats would vote to reopen the authorities if the bill included an extension of the medical tax credits for just one year Republicans without delay rejected that proposal as well calling it a nonstarter