Senate advances funding bill to end longest US government shutdown in history
www.theguardian.com
The amended package will still have to be passed by the House and sent to Trump for his signature, a process that could take days

The amended package will still have to be passed by the House and sent to Trump for his signature, a process that could take days

The compromise legislation authorizes government funding through 30 January 2026 and undoes the firings of federal workers that the White House carried out after the shutdown began. It also guarantees retroactive pay for furloughed federal workers and those who stayed on the job during the shutdown, and prevents further layoffs through January. Included in the compromise are three appropriations bill that will authorize spending through the 2026 fiscal year for the departments of agriculture and veterans affairs, among others.

The compromise does not resolved the issue of the Affordable Care Act premiums, which one study forecast would jump by an average of 26% if the tax credits were allowed to expire.

As part of the deal, Thune said he would allow a vote on a bill to deal with the credits by the second week of December. But even if it succeeds, Republican House speaker Mike Johnson has said he will not put such a measure on the floor.

  • ReallyActuallyFrankenstein@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
    10·
    7 hours ago

    The deal says “You have to put the ACA subsidies to a vote by December. In return, we’ll fund the government until January.”

    So they’re not giving up their leverage, because if the Republicans fuck around the Dems can just slam the brakes on again right away

    Except that in the public’s eyes, Democrats probably now own the current shutdown, thanks to the Democrats’ capitulation which makes the whole things look both pointless and in Democrats’ control.

    So in January, there’s going to be even greater pressure and blame on Democrats if they don’t agree to the same Republican demand. Knowing our Democratic leaders have spines made of gently chilled consomme, the same things will play out faster.

    And this only emboldens Republicans. They have always believed Democrats would fold. There are decades of history behind this belief and now they have reliable evidence this specific Senate and this specific issue is no different.

    So Democrats just gave up all practical leverage, even if they have technical leverage.

      • ReallyActuallyFrankenstein@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
        3·
        5 hours ago

        Yeah, no, I meant “democrats.” The reason why I think democrats will “own” the shutdown is that they gained nothing of value, and contradicted themselves by defecting without getting what they said they were fighting for.

        If they had just held the line and trusted opinion polling that said people were blaming republicans for this, republicans would have had to own it. Now, democrats look like the ones who wouldn’t compromise for 40 days but eventually were forced to.

        As secondary effects, there are also two negative narratives democrats created: (a) what they were fighting for wasn’t that important (so democrats are at fault for shutting down the government for something unimportant), or (b) what they were fighting for was important and they folded without getting it (so democrats are at fault for being feckless or incompetent). There’s a strong likelihood one or both of these will take hold and undermine democrats’ positions further leading to December.

      • ReallyActuallyFrankenstein@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
        1·
        5 hours ago

        “Capitulating” usually infers a loss of sorts. The democrats folding indicates that they are the opposite of “in control” of anything.

        The entire PR battle was about who was responsible for the shutdown, when either side could have had defectors and ended it in the other side’s favor. But the outcome contextualizes the battle retroactively. Here, the outcome was that democrats “won” at best status quo from before the shutdown, which is just objectively a loss since we had 40 days of pain until then. Further, the public impression will likely be that the shutdown was pointless if nothing of value was actually gained, all while democrats shine a spotlight on their part in this. Democrats defected, so that is a “capitulation” which is a loss plus volition. Really confused what is controversial about those statements, let me know.

        But also, “technical” leverage? That sounds like some bs. Like “potential” leverage.

        “Technical” in the sense that yes, you can say they have leverage, while in substance, no, they do not have leverage. “Superficial” leverage work better? “Illusory” leverage?

        There is absolutely no reason to think a December vote will be any different, while they also gave up the actual leverage (the republican-damaging PR effect of this shutdown) and will start in December in a materially worse negotiating position because of that. I think the meaning is clear, but let me know if not.