US Senate approves bill to end government shutdown

The US Senate passed legislation on Monday to reopen the government, bringing the longest shutdown in history closer to an end as a small group of Democrats ratified a deal with Republicans despite searing criticism from within their party.

The 41-day shutdown could last a few more days as members of the House, which has been on recess since mid-September, return to Washington to vote on the legislation.

President Donald Trump has signalled support for the bill, saying on Monday that “we’re going to be opening up our country very quickly”.

The final Senate vote, 60-40, broke a gruelling stalemate that lasted more than six weeks as Democrats demanded that Republicans negotiate with them to extend health care tax credits that expire in January.

The Republicans never did, and five moderate Democrats eventually switched their votes as federal food aid was delayed, airport delays worsened and hundreds of thousands of federal workers continued to go unpaid.

After the vote, Senate majority leader John Thune, thanked unpaid staff and Capitol Police who stood near him on the floor.

He said he realised the strain had been immense for “six excruciating weeks”.

“I am very, very happy to be able to say we are coming to the end,” Mr Thune said.

House Speaker Mike Johnson urged lawmakers to start returning to Washington “right now” given shutdown-related travel delays.

“We have to do this as quickly as possible,” said Mr Johnson, who has kept the House out of session since mid-September when it passed a bill to continue government funding.

After weeks of negotiations, a group of three former governors — New Hampshire senators Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan, and Maine independent senator Angus King — agreed to vote to advance three bipartisan annual spending bills and extend the rest of the government funding until late January.

Republicans promised to hold a vote to extend the health care subsidies by mid-December, but there was no guarantee of success.

Ms Shaheen said on Monday that “this was the option on the table” after Republicans had refused to budge.

“We had reached a point where I think a number of us believed that the shutdown had been very effective in raising the concern about health care,” she said, and the promise for a future vote “gives us an opportunity to continue to address that going forward”.

The legislation includes a reversal of the mass firings of federal workers by the Trump administration since the shutdown began on October 1.

It also protects federal workers against further layoffs through January and guarantees they are paid once the shutdown is over.

In addition to the trio, Democratic senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, home to tens of thousands of federal workers, also voted on Sunday in favour of moving forwards on the agreement.

Illinois senator Dick Durbin, the number two Democrat, Pennsylvania senator John Fetterman and Nevada senators Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen also voted yes.

All other Democrats, including Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York, voted against it.

The moderates had expected a larger number of Democrats to vote with them, as 10 to 12 Democratic senators had been part of the negotiations.

But in the end, only five switched their votes — the exact number that Republicans needed.

Mr Schumer, who received blowback from his party in March when he voted to keep the government open, said he could not “in good faith” support it after meeting with his caucus for more than two hours on Sunday.

“We will not give up the fight,” Mr Schumer said, adding that Democrats have now “sounded the alarm” on health care.

Connecticut senator Chris Murphy said “we could have won” and giving up will only embolden Mr Trump. He said voters were on their side after overwhelming wins for Democrats in last week’s elections.

“We were building momentum to help save our democracy,” Mr Murphy said.

Independent senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont said that striking a deal was “a horrific mistake”.

Others gave Mr Schumer a nod of support.

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries had criticised Mr Schumer in March after his vote to keep the government open.

But he praised the Senate Democratic leader on Monday and expressed support for his leadership throughout the shutdown.

“The American people know we are on the right side of this fight,” Mr Jeffries said Monday, pointing to recent election results.