World Watch
Finally Breakthrough : US Senate Votes 60-40 To Break Weeks -Long Government Shutdown ; Senate Majority Leader John Thune Had This To Say
The breakthrough came after eight Senate Democrats agreed to support a bipartisan funding package that would fully fund several key agencies for the rest of the fiscal year and extend all others through January 30, 2026. The deal followed tense negotiations between Senate leaders, the White House, and centrist lawmakers.
Picture Credit : @johnthune/X
The US Senate voted 60-40 on Sunday night to break the weeks-long government shutdown, marking the first major step toward reopening federal agencies as early as later this week, Politico reported.
The breakthrough came after eight Senate Democrats agreed to support a bipartisan funding package that would fully fund several key agencies for the rest of the fiscal year and extend all others through January 30, 2026. The deal followed tense negotiations between Senate leaders, the White House, and centrist lawmakers.
In exchange, Democrats secured two key concessions from the Trump administration: a commitment to rehire thousands of federal workers who were dismissed at the start of the shutdown and a promise of a Senate floor vote in December on extending expiring Obamacare tax credits.
Sunday’s vote ended a six-week standoff that had left millions of Americans without key government services, delayed paychecks for federal employees, and closed programs such as food assistance and childcare support. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said the vote marked “a path forward to get America working again.”
“I am optimistic that after almost six weeks of this shutdown, we’ll finally be able to end it,” Thune said from the Senate floor, as per CNN.
The vote came hours after a small group of moderate Democrats struck a deal with Republicans to use a House-passed stopgap bill as the vehicle for a broader funding package.
While the deal signalled a breakthrough, it exposed deep divisions within the Democratic Party. Many liberal lawmakers opposed the plan for not guaranteeing the continuation of Affordable Care Act subsidies, arguing it was a “half-step” that left healthcare protections uncertain.