The House of Representatives will vote Wednesday evening on ending the longest government shutdown in US history after a bill to fund all federal operations through Jan. 30 cleared the powerful Rules Committee along party lines.
The lower chamber of Congress is expected to narrowly approve the measure, sending it to President Trump’s desk and effectively ending a funding lapse that has left millions of Americans without food stamp benefits and snarled air travel nationwide.
Lawmakers on the rules panel debated the bill for more than six hours Tuesday night, finally wrapping up their deliberations shortly after 1 a.m. Wednesday.
Democrats on the committee tried unsuccessfully to add an amendment pitched by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) extending ObamaCare tax subsidies — a key demand throughout the shutdown — for an additional three years.
The subsidies are set to expire at the end of this year, and Democrats have warned customers on the Affordable Care Act’s individual exchanges would see their premiums skyrocket.
Meanwhile, Republicans took issue with a provision that would allow senators whose phone records were obtained by then-special counsel Jack Smith in his 2020 election investigation to sue the government and claim hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages.
“It is beside my comprehension that this got put in the bill,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) said at one point.
“It is why people have a low opinion of this town,” Roy added. “I am torn also because we need to fund the government and we need to get this passed.”
Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.) said that he had “struggled with what the right course of action here is, because what [the Biden Justice Department] did is wrong, [but] this should not be in this piece of legislation.”
Wednesday’s vote will be the first taken by the House since Sept. 19, when it passed a stopgap measure to fund the government through Nov. 21.
Senate Democrats blocked consideration of that bill in 14 separate votes before a rump of seven party members and one Democrat-aligned independent agreed to vote on the revised bill in exchange for a guaranteed vote on extending ObamaCare subsidies.
Here’s what we know about the government shutdown
- The Trump administration revealed in a court filing that more than 4,000 federal workers were fired on October 10 as a result of the ongoing partial government shutdown.
- The bulk of the layoffs took place at the Treasury Department and the Department of Health and Human Services, where approximately 1,446 and up to 1,200 employees, respectively, were fired, according to reports.
- Airports across the country have experienced delays this week because of a shortage of controllers.
- President Trump said on October 11 that he would use his authority as commander in chief to pay military troops despite the government shutdown.
- The shutdown began on Oct. 1 after Democrats rejected a short-term funding fix and demanded that the bill include an extension of federal subsidies for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) kept lawmakers out of session in order to press Senate Democrats to reopen the government, earning the derision of his rivals in the House.
“I am sick and tired of hearing you all say we had an eight-week vacation,” House Rules Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) said at one point during Tuesday night’s session. “I worked every day. I don’t know about you. I don’t want to hear another soul say that.”
The bill coming before the House Wednesday funds SNAP benefits, military construction, veterans programs and congressional operations through Sept. 30.
It also mandates the rehiring of federal workers laid off during the shutdown, a provision President Trump confirmed this week that he would honor.
