WASHINGTON—The Senate formally voted 60-40 to reopen the government Monday evening, after a motion to proceed reached a two-thirds majority Sunday night. Following a rare weekend work period a breakthrough was reached, with eight Democrats siding with Republicans to vote for the reopening of the government.
A new bill was released Sunday night and would extend government funding through Jan. 30, 2026, without extending subsidies for Affordable Care Act premiums.
With the Senate’s passage of the bill, it must now be voted on by the House of Representatives, which returns to Washington later in the week.
The bill was brokered by eight Democratic senators, including Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), New Hampshire Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan, Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and John Fetterman (D-Pa.).
In a Sunday press conference, Hassan said she was motivated to reopen the government after seeing the impact of cuts to SNAP benefits and the lack of pay for federal workers in New Hampshire.
After the bill formally passed on Monday, Kaine told reporters he felt “very good” about the potential reopening of the government.
“We protected two million federal employees. We got them back to work…we got them back-pay guaranteed, and we protected them against RIFs going forward,” he said.
The senators who voted “yes” on the bill, none of whom are up for reelection, garnered substantial backlash after the motion to proceed reached a majority Sunday evening.
Both elected Democrats and members of the public in the Democratic party deemed the senators’ vote to reopen the government a capitulation to Republicans, who refused to address health care concerns until the shutdown concluded. After elections throughout the country successfully favored Democrats last Tuesday, the eight senators are accused of caving to the GOP, including by “The Daily Show” host Jon Stewart.
“They f—ing caved on the shutdown, not even a full week removed from the best election night results they’ve had in years,” Stewart said on his show on Monday.
Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) tweeted a video captioned “Tonight was a very bad night” following the vote.
“To my mind, this was a very, very bad vote…it raises health care premiums for over 20 million Americans…people can’t afford that when we are already paying the highest prices in the world for health care,” he said.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) told reporters the senators were “going to have to explain themselves,” in a press conference Sunday night
“The overwhelming majority of Senate Democrats, led by leader [House Minority Leader Chuck] Schumer, are opposing this bill in the Senate,” he said.
Members of the public have also expressed outrage over the vote, including Shaheen’s own daughter Stefany, who is running for Congress in New Hampshire.
She condemned Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) for not guaranteeing a vote on extending ACA subsidies.
“Improving health care has been the cause of my life. It’s why I am running for [C]ongress. So I cannot support this deal when Speaker Johnson refuses to even allow a vote to extend health care tax credits,” Stefany Shaheen tweeted on Monday.
Schumer has faced backlash from members of his party after he failed to keep his caucus in line. Critics say the majority leader has been ineffective in leading the party.
“Senator Schumer is no longer effective and should be replaced. If you can’t lead the fight to stop healthcare premiums from skyrocketing for Americans, what will you fight for?” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) tweeted.
Schumer had already drawn blowback from his party in March after supporting a GOP-led stopgap funding bill that did not restrict President Donald Trump and Elon Musk from gutting federal agencies. His rationale had been that the bill would have led to a shutdown.
When asked whether Schumer is an appropriate leader of congressional Democrats, Jeffries praised his efforts to protect the ACA.
“Leader Schumer and Senate Democrats over the last seven weeks, have waged a valiant fight on behalf of the American people,” he said.
The House is expected to vote on the bill Wednesday evening.
