Senate Republicans and Democrats have reached a deal to fund the government and end the shutdown, according to multiple reports.
“Part of the deal is a vote on the ACA subsidies,” Angus King, a Maine Independent who caucuses with the Democrats, told reporters Sunday upon emerging from a meeting of Senate Democrats. He referred to the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, and the COVID-19 pandemic-era subsidies that are set to expire at the end of the year without further congressional action.
King cited “the length of the shutdown” as a reason Democrats had reconsidered voting to fund the government.
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., revealed some elements of the deal on X.
“This deal guarantees a vote to extend Affordable Care Act premium tax credits, which Republicans weren’t willing to do,” Kaine wrote.
He also said the legislation “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 2019.”
Sources told Politico and Fox News that enough Senate Democrats have agreed to the deal in order to reach 60 votes in the upper chamber.
Angus King, a Maine independent who caucuses with Democrats, and New Hampshire Democrats Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan negotiated the deal with Republican senators, sources told Politico. They said the deal has “more than enough” members of the Senate Democratic Caucus to advance.
The proposed legislation would fund all agencies through Jan. 30, and it would fund some projects for the full fiscal year until Oct. 1, 2026, according to Politico. The package includes full fiscal year funding for the Department of Agriculture and the FDA, the Department of Veterans Affairs and military construction projects, and the operations of Congress.
As Kaine noted, Senate Majority Leader John Thune has reportedly promised Senate Democrats a vote in December to extend the COVID-era Obamacare subsidies that will otherwise expire at the end of the year.
The government has been shut down for 40 days, since Oct. 1, marking the longest shutdown in U.S. history.
The Senate is expected to vote on the funding bill Sunday evening.
While reports state that enough Democrats will vote to fund the government, many Senate Democrats took to X to state their opposition to the package.
Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., announced her opposition.
“Since July, I have been clear: to earn my vote, Republicans would have to do something to bring down the cost of health care for working and middle-class Michiganders,” she wrote. “The promise of a vote in over a month does not meet that threshold.” She claimed that President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” has “plunged America into a health care crisis.”
Republicans, however, argue that the increase in health care premiums reflects the weaknesses of Obamacare.
Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., took a similar tack to Slotkin.
“I have been clear on this from the beginning: I will not turn my back on the 24 million Americans who will see their premiums more than double if we don’t extend these tax credits,” Ruben Gallego, Arizona’s other Democrat senator, posted on X.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., also announced her opposition, calling a vote for the bill “a mistake.”
This is a breaking news story.
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