Senate votes to end government shutdown as Chuck Schumer faces calls to resign

Hello and welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of the U.S. government shutdown, which could finally be about to come to an end after senators agreed a short-term funding deal late Sunday.

President Donald Trump has said an agreement to end the government shutdown could finally be in sight after 41 days of federal workers going unpaid and public services being cut to the bone.

“We’ll never agree to give any substantial money, or any money, to prisoners, illegals who come into our country. And I think the Democrats understand that,” Trump said as he returned to the White House late Sunday.

“And it looks like we’re getting close to the shutdown ending. You’ll know very soon.”

The deadlock, which began on October 1, is already the longest in American history, surpassing the 35-day impasse from late 2018 to early 2019 in his first term.

The president was speaking last night after lawmakers in the Senate struck a deal that saw eight of the chamber’s moderate Democrats cross the aisle in a 60-40 vote that cleared its filibuster threshold. The development puts the resolution on schedule for a vote Monday or early this week.

The agreement backed by the breakaway Democrats and their Republican counterparts would extend government funding through the end of January and allow further negotiations to take place on a range of issues, including subsidies for Affordable Care Act health plans.

John Bowden reports.

Not yet, is the short answer to that.

Although Sunday’s developments were highly positive, the path ahead remains unclear given the lack of involvement from either the White House or the GOP leadership in the House of Representatives.

That said, administration officials, who had flatly refused to negotiate with Democrats throughout the shutdown, are reportedly on board with the new deal. Trump himself seemed buoyed by the news and has had plenty of success in the past persuading House Speaker Mike Johnson to see things his way.

Johnson has yet to give a clear sign that the deal has his backing but Senate Majority Leader John Thune told a reporter Sunday: “I am confident that if we move to open the government, the House will do likewise.”

Among the Democratic caucus, Sens. Dick Durbin, John Fetterman, Catherine Cortez Masto, Jacky Rosen, Jeanne Shaheen, Maggie Hassan, Angus King and Tim Kaine all voted for the continuing resolution but 39 of their colleagues in the chamber declined.

It remains to be seen whether there will be an equivalent difference of opinion in the House, where Democrats are reportedly unhappy with the emerging framework of the deal, given that it doesn’t guarantee the passage of Obamacare subsidies.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries seemed to confirm that on NBC’s Meet the Press yesterday. “I don’t think that the House Democratic Caucus is prepared to support a promise, a wing and a prayer from folks who have been devastating the healthcare of the American people for years,” he said.

Many in the lower chamber worry that giving the appearance of backing down, in the wake of last Tuesday’s election triumphs, will infuriate many Democratic voters and supercharge primary campaigns against their members next year.

Global stock markets rallied on Monday morning over optimism that an end to the historic U.S. government shutdown could finally be in sight.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 was up 1.2 percent in early trading, with major bourses and almost all sectors in a better place, CNBC reports.

The U.K.’s FTSE index was 0.7 percent up, Germany’s DAX rose 1.5 percent, France’s CAC 40 saw a 1.1 percent uptick and Italy’s FTSE MIB added 1.5 percent in value.

The Senate breakthrough also helped push Nasdaq futures into a 1.27 percent rise while S&P 500 futures climbed 0.74 percent, according to Reuters.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 1.36 percent and Japan’s Nikkei advanced 1.33 percent.

In China, the CSI300 blue-chip index overturned early losses to post trade 0.3 percent higher while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 1.5 percent.

“A possible end to the longest running U.S. shutdown is a positive for markets,” Prashant Newnaha, senior Asia-Pacific rates strategist at TD Securities, told the newswire.

“Our expectation is that the next step is for a House vote on Wednesday, with the government set to reopen this Friday.”

All eyes will be on the New York Stock Exchange when it opens later this morning.

Republican congressional leaders John Thune and Mike Johnson have been silent on social media since last night’s deal broke (Speaker Johnson was watching the Washington Commanders with Trump yesterday).

Their Democratic counterparts, however, have been pretty vocal. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer took to X to post a video explaining why he was voting against the GOP’s latest proposal and followed it up with this message of defiance:

“Democrats have been fighting for months to address America's healthcare crisis. For the millions who will lose coverage, for people with cancer who won’t get the care they need, for working families who can’t afford to pay $25K more a year for healthcare, we will keep fighting.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has meanwhile issued the following statement, likewise making clear his intention to oppose the new agreement in the lower chamber:

“House Democrats have consistently maintained that bipartisan legislation that funds the government must also decisively address the Republican healthcare crisis.

“For seven weeks, Democrats in the House and Senate have waged a valiant fight on behalf of the American people.

“It now appears that Senate Republicans will send the House of Representatives a spending bill that fails to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits. As a result of the Republican refusal to address the healthcare crisis that they have created, tens of millions of everyday Americans are going to see their costs skyrocket. Many will not be able to afford a doctor when they or their children need one.

“America is far too expensive. We will not support spending legislation advanced by Senate Republicans that fails to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits. We will fight the GOP bill in the House of Representatives, where Mike Johnson will be compelled to end the seven week Republican taxpayer-funded vacation.

“Donald Trump and the Republican Party own the toxic mess they have created in our country and the American people know it.”

Senators John Thune, Chuck Schumer, Tim Kaine, Rick Scott and Elizabeth Warren, respectively, speak to the media after emerging from the chamber last night.

While Kaine crossed the aisle to vote with Republicans in the name of pragmatism, Schumer and Warren did not.

In non-shutdown news, the White House announced late last night that the president had issued pardons for members of his 2020 campaign legal team – including ex-NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani, Kenneth Chesebro and Sydney Powell AKA “The Kraken” – for their involvement in the so-called fake electors plot in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election.

John Bowden has the story.

The eight members of the Democratic Caucus who broke with their colleagues to support the GOP’s continuing resolution delivered a press conference last night defending their actions, which appear to be at odds with their own party leadership’s position.

“This fight tonight is… It’s just the beginning,” insisted Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto.

“This is the beginning to show and fight for Americans across the country… I expect Republicans to be at the table in the next few weeks. I expect the White House to be at the table.

“And if they do choose not to come to the table, they can own the disastrous premium increases that will continue to rise.”

Asked by a reporter, “What do you say to your colleagues who say this isn’t a fight, this is a capitulation?,” New Hampshire Jeanne Shaheen said: “We have a guaranteed vote by a guaranteed date…”

The journalist countered: “There is no guarantee that this will become law.”

“There was never a guarantee that it would be become law,” Shaheen answered, more than a little defensively.

Her fellow New Hampshire Sen., Maggie Hassan, was more confident, declaring: “With the government reopening shortly, Republicans now finally have to come to the table.

“Or make no mistake, Americans will remember who stood in the way.”