Senate Paves Way to End 40-Day Shutdown After Democrats Break Ranks on Healthcare

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – The United States Senate took the first critical step toward ending a crippling 40-day government shutdown, the longest in the nation’s history, after a small but pivotal group of moderate Democrats broke ranks with their party’s leadership to advance a Republican-backed spending deal.

The breakthrough, however, came at a steep price for the Democratic caucus, which was forced to abandon its central demand for a guaranteed extension of expiring healthcare subsidies, a concession that triggered a swift and furious backlash from progressives and leadership alike, who branded the move a "capitulation" and a "horrific mistake."

After nearly six weeks of intense gridlock that left hundreds of thousands of federal workers without pay, disrupted air travel nationwide, and put food assistance for millions of Americans at risk, the Senate voted 60-to-40 to clear a key procedural hurdle.

The vote, as reported by The New York Times and The Associated Press, allows a compromise spending package to begin its long and uncertain journey through Congress, where it must still win final passage in the Senate, gain approval in the House, and be signed by President Donald Trump to officially reopen the government.

The deadlock was broken when eight senators who caucus with the Democrats crossed the aisle to join Republicans, providing the exact number of votes needed to overcome the filibuster.

According to Fox News, the defectors included the number two Democrat in the Senate, Dick Durbin of Illinois, as well as Senators Tim Kaine of Virginia, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen of Nevada, Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, and Angus King, an Independent from Maine who caucuses with the Democrats.

The Fragile Compromise

The deal that emerged from weeks of tense, closed-door negotiations does not include the extension of Affordable Care Act (ACA), or Obamacare, subsidies that Democrats had spent more than a month fighting for.

The expiration of these subsidies at the end of the year is projected to cause health insurance premiums to skyrocket for millions of Americans. Instead of a legislative guarantee, Democrats received a public promise from Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, to hold a separate vote on a one-year extension of the subsidies no later than the second week of December.

However, as multiple outlets noted, this future bill is widely expected to fail in the Republican-controlled Congress, with House Speaker Mike Johnson not committing to even bringing it up for a vote.

While the central healthcare demand was unmet, the bipartisan compromise, detailed by The Washington Post, does include some provisions sought by Democrats. It combines three full-year, bipartisan spending bills—covering agriculture, veterans' programs, and the legislative branch—with a stopgap funding measure, known as a continuing resolution (CR), that would reopen the rest of the government through January 30, 2026.

Crucially for many Democrats, the agreement would reverse the mass firings of thousands of federal workers undertaken by the Trump administration during the shutdown and guarantee that all furloughed employees receive back pay.

Senator King, a lead negotiator, explained the painful calculus that led to the compromise.

"The question was, does the shutdown further the goal of achieving some needed support for the extension of the tax credits? Our judgment was that it will not," he said, according to Fox News. "It would not produce that result. And the evidence for that is almost seven weeks of fruitless attempts to make that happen."

Senator Kaine, a Virginia Democrat whose state is home to tens of thousands of federal workers, cited the protections for those employees as his reason for converting, stating the legislation "will protect federal workers from baseless firings, reinstate those who have been wrongfully terminated during the shutdown, and ensure federal workers receive back pay," The New York Times reported.

A Party Divided

The decision by the eight senators to break ranks immediately triggered intense consternation and reopened a deep rift within the Democratic party. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who had held his caucus together for weeks in a unified blockade, voted against the deal.

"This healthcare crisis is so severe, so urgent, so devastating for families back home that I cannot, in good faith, support this CR that fails to address the healthcare crisis," Schumer said in a speech on the Senate floor, as reported by Fox News and The New York Times.

The party’s progressive wing was even more scathing in its criticism.

Senator Bernie Sanders, an Independent from Vermont, charged that it would be a "horrific mistake" for Democrats to cave now. "If Democrats cave on this issue, what it will say to Donald Trump is that he has a green light to go forward toward authoritarianism," Sanders said, according to Fox News. "And I think that would be a tragedy for this country."

The backlash extended swiftly to the House of Representatives. Representative Greg Casar of Texas, the chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, called the deal a "betrayal" of millions of Americans.

"Accepting nothing but a pinky promise from Republicans isn’t a compromise — it’s capitulation," Casar wrote on the social media platform X, as cited by The Associated Press.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries made it clear that his caucus would not support such a deal, blaming Republicans for the entire crisis. "Donald Trump and the Republican Party own the toxic mess they have created in our country and the American people know it," Jeffries said in a statement.

The deep division was perfectly encapsulated by the two Democratic senators from Virginia.

While Kaine backed the deal to protect federal workers, his colleague, Senator Mark Warner, broke with him, saying he could not "support a deal that still leaves millions of Americans wondering how they are going to pay for their health care," The New York Times reported.

The Human Cost of the Shutdown

As the political maneuvering played out in Washington, the real-world consequences of the 40-day shutdown have been compounding across the country. U.S. airlines canceled more than 2,000 flights on Sunday, the first time since the shutdown began, with over 7,000 additional delays, according to The Associated Press.

Treasury Secretary Sean Duffy warned that air travel ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday would be "reduced to a trickle" if the impasse continued.

At the same time, food aid for tens of millions of people was delayed as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits were caught up in legal battles related to the shutdown.

In Washington, D.C., home to tens of thousands of unpaid federal workers, the Capital Area Food Bank reported it was providing 8 million more meals ahead of the holidays than budgeted for—a nearly 20% increase in demand, the AP noted.

Help lines at the Social Security Administration and the Internal Revenue Service have gone silent, and field offices serving small businesses, farmers, and veterans have been shuttered, The Washington Post reported.

The path to officially reopening the government remains long and fraught with peril. Sunday’s vote was merely the first in a series of procedural maneuvers in the Senate. The modified legislation must still win final passage, a process that could be delayed for days if any single senator objects.

It must then be approved by the House, where Democratic opposition is fierce, before it can finally land on President Trump’s desk for his signature. Returning to the White House on Sunday evening, Trump did not explicitly endorse the deal but sounded an optimistic note, saying, "It looks like we’re getting close to the shutdown ending."

As the nation holds its breath, the end of the longest shutdown in its history is finally in sight, but it arrives at the cost of a bitter Democratic family feud and with the central, painful question of healthcare costs kicked down a perilous road.