The Senate voted to reopen the government late last night. Now, it’s up to the House of Representatives to end the shutdown for good. House members are scrambling to get back to Washington in hopes of a Wednesday vote to end the longest government shutdown in history.
After weeks of a bitter stalemate, eight Senate Democrats broke ranks and joined Republicans to help end the historic funding gap.
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The fate of the government is now in the hands of the House, but critics on the left argue the bill does not include the key demand from Democrats to extend Obamacare subsidies and keep insurance premiums from skyrocketing.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer blamed the Republicans. “The American people have now awoken to Trump’s health care crisis. Republicans now own this health care crisis. They knew it was coming. We wanted to fix it. Republicans said no, and now it’s on them,” Schumer argued.
Sen. Majority Leader John Thune has promised to hold a vote on Obamacare subsidies before the end of the year, which helped sway the 8 Democrats.
Still, others aren’t buying it. “They did not want to give in, they thought that this was giving up and giving in to the Republican Party, so there is widespread outrage on the Democratic side that this is how the shutdown is ending,” said Nathan Gonzales of Inside Elections.
The deal would reopen the government and guarantee back-pay for federal workers, but there are concerns that millions of Americans will still feel the impact even after the government reopens.
Forty-two million Americans who rely on SNAP food benefits are scrambling to keep food on the table, and chaos at the nation’s airports continues to grow. “There was like no reimbursement or anything, so I had to pay for a hotel. So, yeah, it was madness, craziness,” said one frustrated traveler.
Experts warn that even if the government reopens this week, it could still take days for air travel to return to normal. The F.A.A. has forced airlines to cancel more than 7,000 flights since Friday because of unpaid air traffic controllers calling out sick. President Trump is now threatening to replace the controllers not reporting to work and suggesting bonuses to those who’ve stayed on the job.
“He is recommending a $10,000 per person bonus for everyone who’s been able to do that, going so far as calling them great patriots,” CBN White House Correspondent Kelly Wright said.
The President says he’ll back the Senate plan.
“The deal is very good. We’re not going to be giving one and a half trillion dollars to people who came in through jails and from gangs and drug dealers and all of these others they wanted to give healthcare to, which would have hurt our healthcare system,” Trump told reporters.
The Republican House could vote on this as early as Wednesday, offering hope for a breakthrough after more than 42 days of gridlock.
