Senate passes funding package to end government shutdown as Democrats face party backlash
Good morning, and welcome to our live coverage of US politics. The US Senate has passed a critical funding bill that could end the longest government shutdown in American history within days.
The breakthrough came after Senate Democrats broke with their party to strike a deal with Republicans, in a move that has enraged many in their caucus.
Some Democrats are now calling for the Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer to resign, even though he voted against the deal, as many in the party are furious that the agreement does not include any extensions on healthcare subsidies.
California Governor Gavin Newsom – considered a top contender for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination – was among those who criticized the deal, saying on Monday he had “deep disappointment, deep concern about my party right now”.
“Senator Schumer is no longer effective and should be replaced,” said congressman Ro Khanna, who represents the Silicon Valley region of California. “If you can’t lead the fight to stop healthcare premiums from skyrocketing for Americans, what will you fight for?”
The bill passed in a 60-40 vote on Monday evening, on day 41 of the shutdown, with nearly all Republicans (bar Kentucky’s Rand Paul) joining eight Democrats who splintered from the party to approve a compromise deal that would fund most federal agencies until the end of January.
Republicans – who hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate – needed the deal to get over the 60-vote minimum threshold.
The US president, Donald Trump, has expressed support for the deal, and Speaker Mike Johnson has urged members of the House – which has been on an extended recess since the shutdown began – to return in preparation for a vote and a swift delivery to the president’s desk.
The shutdown has had devastating impacts on a variety of services, leaving hundreds of thousands of federal workers furloughed, millions at risk of losing food assistance and many other Americans facing travel disruption amid flight delays and cancellations.
Stay with us as we bring you the latest political developments.
Key events
Trump scolds air traffic controllers and blames rivals for economy
Gabrielle Canon
Gabrielle Canon is climate reporter and extreme weather correspondent for Guardian US
Donald Trump chastised overwhelmed air traffic controllers, cast blame and doubt in response to poor economic indicators and claimed that increased access to food stamps had put “the country in jeopardy”, in an exclusive interview on Fox News Monday evening.
Speaking with Laura Ingraham, the president shared his thoughts on a wide range of topics from housing mortgages to foreign policy, interspersed with insults flung at his political opponents that were teed up by Ingraham’s questions, including Gavin Newsom, the California governor and Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader.
During the conversation, which aired as the Senate voted to end the longest government shutdown in US history, the president also discussed his vision for addressing the healthcare subsidies that have been at the heart of the funding impasse.
Democrats have been pushing for an extension to the tax credits that make Affordable Care Act healthcare premiums more affordable for millions of Americans, which are set to expire at the end of the year. Republicans have condemned the credits, saying they only enrich insurers.
“I want the money to go into an account for people where they buy their own health insurance,” he told Ingraham, suggesting the strategy could be called “Trump Care”. “They’re gonna feel like entrepreneurs. They’re actually able to go out & negotiate their own insurance.”
You can read more here:
Donald Trump has threatened to sue the BBC for $1bn (£760m) after accusations that the corporation was failing in its duty of impartiality over the editing of the US president’s speech on 6 January 2021 for a Panorama programme.
Lawyers for the US president said that the BBC must retract the Panorama documentary by Friday or face a lawsuit for “no less” than $1bn, according to reports. The BBC has confirmed it had received a letter and said it will respond in due course.
You can read all of the latest in our UK politics blog.
Trump asks supreme court to throw out jury’s finding in E Jean Carroll lawsuit
Donald Trump asked the US supreme court on Monday to throw out a jury’s finding in a civil lawsuit that he sexually abused writer E Jean Carroll at a Manhattan department store in the mid-1990s and later defamed her.
Trump’s lawyers argued in a lengthy filing with the high court that allegations leading to the $5m verdict were “propped up” by a “series of indefensible evidentiary rulings” that allowed Carroll’s lawyers to present “highly inflammatory propensity evidence” against him.
Carroll, a longtime advice columnist and former TV talk show host, testified at a 2023 trial that Trump turned a friendly encounter in spring 1996 into a violent attack in the dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman, a luxury retailer across the street from Trump Tower.
The jury also found Trump liable for defaming Carroll when he made comments in October 2022 denying her allegation.
Trump’s lawyers, led by Justin D Smith, a St Louis, Missouri-based attorney, called Carroll’s claims a “politically motivated hoax”.
They accused the trial judge, Lewis A Kaplan, of warping federal evidence rules to bolster Carroll’s “implausible, unsubstantiated assertions”. They said by upholding the verdict, the second US circuit court of appeals was in conflict with other federal appeals courts on how such rules should be applied.
You can read the full story here:
The funding legislation extends government funding at current levels through January 2026 along with three year-long provisions that will fund programs at the Department of Veterans Affairs, the USDA and FDA, and legislative branch operations.
The continuing resolution also includes language to stop mass federal firings and reverse dismissals that occurred during the shutdown – prohibiting additional reductions until the end of January – and guarantees back pay to workers who have spent weeks without paychecks.
Speaking from the Oval Office on Monday, Trump said he would abide by the terms of the deal, including provisions reinstating federal workers who had received reductions-in-force notice.
“We’re going to be opening up our country very quickly,” Trump said. “The deal is very good.”
Democrats have been fighting for the permanent extension of subsidies that support Americans relying on the Affordable Care Act, which are scheduled to expire at the end of the year. Without an extension of the tax credits, millions of Americans could see sharp rises in their healthcare premiums or lose their marketplace coverage entirely.
You can read the full story by my colleagues, Gabrielle Canon and Lauren Gambino, here:
CNN has interviewed Ruben Gallego, a Democratic senator from Arizona, and asked for his reaction to the defections.
“I believe and hope that those eight senators are going to do everything they can, whatever they were able to get, in terms of leverage, in terms of favor from these Republicans, that they’re gonna be able to deliver that (better health care deal)” he said.
Senate Democrats had resisted efforts to reopen the government, aiming to pressure Republicans into agreeing to extend subsidies for Affordable Care Act health plans, which have made private health insurance less costly for millions of Americans. They are set to expire at the end of the year.
The mounting effects of the shutdown – which has sidelined federal workers and affected food aid, parks and travel – as well as individual political considerations from Democratic senators seem to have pushed the chamber toward an agreement.
The House of Representatives will need to pass the bill before Donald Trump is able to sign it into effect.
How US senators voted on the shutdown-ending budget bill
You can find out how every senator voted in the funding bill here:
As we mentioned in the opening post, eight senators in the Democratic caucus worked with Republicans to craft the deal to reopen the US government.
They were Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Tim Kaine of Virginia, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen of Nevada, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, and independent Angus King of Maine who caucuses with the Democrats.
You can read about why these Democrats broke rank in this story about the defections by my colleague Joseph Gedeon.
Senate passes funding package to end government shutdown as Democrats face party backlash
Good morning, and welcome to our live coverage of US politics. The US Senate has passed a critical funding bill that could end the longest government shutdown in American history within days.
The breakthrough came after Senate Democrats broke with their party to strike a deal with Republicans, in a move that has enraged many in their caucus.
Some Democrats are now calling for the Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer to resign, even though he voted against the deal, as many in the party are furious that the agreement does not include any extensions on healthcare subsidies.
California Governor Gavin Newsom – considered a top contender for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination – was among those who criticized the deal, saying on Monday he had “deep disappointment, deep concern about my party right now”.
“Senator Schumer is no longer effective and should be replaced,” said congressman Ro Khanna, who represents the Silicon Valley region of California. “If you can’t lead the fight to stop healthcare premiums from skyrocketing for Americans, what will you fight for?”
The bill passed in a 60-40 vote on Monday evening, on day 41 of the shutdown, with nearly all Republicans (bar Kentucky’s Rand Paul) joining eight Democrats who splintered from the party to approve a compromise deal that would fund most federal agencies until the end of January.
Republicans – who hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate – needed the deal to get over the 60-vote minimum threshold.
The US president, Donald Trump, has expressed support for the deal, and Speaker Mike Johnson has urged members of the House – which has been on an extended recess since the shutdown began – to return in preparation for a vote and a swift delivery to the president’s desk.
The shutdown has had devastating impacts on a variety of services, leaving hundreds of thousands of federal workers furloughed, millions at risk of losing food assistance and many other Americans facing travel disruption amid flight delays and cancellations.
Stay with us as we bring you the latest political developments.
