Senate Reaches Deal To Reopen Government After Moderate Democrats Cave

Republicans found enough Democrats willing to drop their party's demand to extend soon-to-expire health care subsidies for millions of people.

WASHINGTON – Senators have reached a deal to reopen the federal government, ending a 40-day partisan impasse after a group of moderate Democrats caved on their party’s health care demands.

Sens. Angus King (I-Maine), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) cut the deal with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and the White House, a source familiar with the deal tells HuffPost.

And there are at least eight votes from the Senate Democratic Caucus in favor of this agreement, meaning Republicans now have the 60 votes they need to clear a filibuster and advance their party’s government funding bill. The House is expected to return to D.C. and pass it this week, ending the longest government shutdown in history.

For weeks, Democrats have been insisting that any vote to reopen the government also be tied to a vote to extend Affordable Care Act tax credits expiring at the end of the year, something they repeatedly called a “health care crisis.” Millions of people rely on these subsidies to afford health care, and since ACA open enrollment began on Nov. 1, many have already seen the costs of their health care skyrocket.

The deal that moderate Democrats just cut with Republicans doesn’t extend those health care subsidies, but sets up a future vote to extend them – a vote that will almost certainly fail, as Republicans have no interest in doing this.