An end to the record-breaking government shutdown is in sight, after a bipartisan agreement overcame its first big hurdle despite pushback from a wide range of Democrats.
Eight senators who caucus with Democrats voted with Republicans late Sunday to advance what they called “the only deal on the table,” which packages three full-year appropriations bills with an extension of all other funding levels plus protections for federal workers through Jan. 30. Senate
Republicans separately guaranteed a vote on a Democrat-approved extension of enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies by mid-December.
“Hopefully we’ll negotiate … something that’s really going to make [Republicans] squirm,” Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., told Semafor.
If it doesn’t pass, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., said, “everybody will consider” voting against another extension come January.
Still, Democrats in both chambers panned the compromise, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., called it “a policy and political disaster.”